MEET YOUR GUIDES
We have been thrown in the deep end too.
We created Advancing Wound Care because we saw too many clinicians expected to make complex decisions without the education to back them. Between us we have worked across most multidisciplinary healthcare settings, from critical and acute care to community and aged care, pain management and national leadership.
50+
clinical experience
2
accredited lymphoedema practitioners
1
advance your practice
THE CLINICIANS BEHIND AWC
Donna and Monika
CO-DIRECTOR OF ADVANCING WOUND CARE
ADVANCED PRACTICE NURSE, ACCREDITED LYMPHOEDEMA PRACTITIONER, FACULTY MEMBER AUSTRALIAN WOUND AND SKIN ALLIANCE
DONNA NAIR
RN, BN. A registered nurse for thirty-five years, the last twenty-five in dedicated wound care roles, with the last ten of those also as a lymphoedema practitioner, and since 2017 principal of her own private practice combining the two fields. Donna's work sits at the difficult end: hard-to-heal wounds, the ones already through five services and eighteen months of dressings.
She is best known for teaching early and mid-career nurses the practical wound care that training never quite delivered. Not more theory. What to do on Tuesday, with the patient in front of you, using what your service actually stocks.
She built a nationwide audience of clinicians by teaching in the open, on the platforms nurses genuinely use. The size of that response says something about how wide the gap is. Alongside the clinical and education work, she advises, mentors and builds teams that reflect on their own practice rather than defend it.
How she practises: ethical, trauma-informed, size-inclusive. Not decoration on the end of a bio. These are why people who have avoided care for years will book an appointment and keep turning up, because it is a safe space where they are listened to.
Trauma-informed means the assessment does not reproduce what put someone off health care in the first place. Size-inclusive means a respectful, non-pathologising approach, neutral language, and nobody's treatment plan quietly held hostage to bias. For many people living with wounds and lymphoedema, that is the difference between success and a file marked "non-compliant".
Donna is regarded nationally as a Key Opinion Leader in wound care, called on by industry to bridge the gap between trade partners, clinicians and people living with wounds. She is sought out for independent case reviews and medico-legal instructions.
Special interests: hard-to-heal wounds, knowledge translation, purposeful collaboration, self-care and volunteering.
CO-DIRECTOR OF ADVANCING WOUND CARE
ADVANCED PRACTICE NURSE, ACCREDITED LYMPHOEDEMA PRACTITIONER, BOARD DIRECTOR AUSTRALASIAN LYMPHOLOGY ASSOCIATION
MONIKA SAMOLYK
RN, BN, BAppSc (Hons). Monika is a registered nurse with forty years across community, primary, aged and acute care, built on substantial earlier years in critical care and a dedicated pain management role. She is known for working across boundaries that fragment patient care. Her practice covers hard to heal wounds, chronic disease, lymphoedema and chronic oedema.
For sixteen years she was the regional advanced practice wound consultant across Victoria's Hume East sub-region, building clinician capability and rebuilding the systems around people with complex wounds. When early vascular assessment proved to be the missing link, she founded an early-intervention vascular diagnostic clinic, consulting with a vascular sonographer, and is now completing research into its outcomes. Her work is recognised nationally and internationally.
Her teaching starts where clinicians actually get stuck. The dressing changes have been done for three, six, twelve months, and the wound is no better. She makes complicated assessment easy and practical.
She is also willing to say the uncomfortable thing. That some of what we were taught is wrong. That "we've always done it this way" is not evidence. That the distance between what the evidence says and what the patient actually receives is everyone's problem.
She now runs an independent private practice across community, primary and aged care, and is called on by industry and health service decision makers, for whom the same wound is a cost problem nobody has been able to solve.
She is currently engaged in international volunteer work because the gap between what is known and what gets delivered is not a uniquely Australian problem.
Special interests: clinician and consumer advocacy, persistent pain, foot protection, and chronic disease management.
OUR APPROACH
The Unlearn to Advance Method
Better wound care does not start with more information. It starts with letting go of what no longer holds up. Our four-step method helps you move from habit to evidence, and from uncertainty to clear clinical reasoning.
STEP ONE
Challenge assumptions
Examine and move beyond outdated beliefs and habitual practices, making space for new perspectives.
STEP TWO
Layer evidence
Integrate current research, guidelines, and clinical data so every decision is grounded in the best available evidence.
STEP THREE
Apply clinical reasoning
Synthesise information and context using structured frameworks to make informed, person-centred decisions.
STEP FOUR
Translate to practice
Put evidence-informed strategies to work in your everyday setting, adapting to local systems and resources.
WHERE THIS TAKES YOU
The shift we help you make
OUR VISION
A healthcare landscape where every clinician can access education that actually helps.
We want a future where every clinician, regardless of experience, has access to high-quality, evidence-informed, practical wound care education. We challenge outdated assumptions, foster critical thinking, and support clinicians to build genuine capability, so that better care follows. Through education and community, we work toward systems-level improvement in wound and chronic oedema management.
Advancing Wound Care is committed to upholding the highest standards of ethical communication and professional conduct. All educational content and programmes are developed in alignment with AHPRA and National Law requirements.
We do not provide individual clinical advice or guarantee outcomes. Our focus is education, professional development, and supporting clinicians to make informed decisions in their own practice.
BE THE FIRST TO KNOW
You deserve to feel confident in wound care.
Our online courses are on their way. Join the mailing list to get early access, practical resources, and an invitation when we go live
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