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ou are about to read the new and improved ECPN! The content has not changed per se, but the package has, as you can clearly see. We will continue to provide you with editorial that addresses the clinical and financial decisions you face on a day-to-day basis.
       Since 1989, ECPN has been a bimonthly, tabloid-sized publication. As its name (Extended Care Product News) implied, it provided product news for the busy extended care professional responsible for purchasing decisions in his or her respective facility. Since then, much has changed in healthcare provision and in the pages of ECPN. While we still focus on the products utilized in care delivery, we have expanded our editorial focus to provide clinical and financial strategies for extended care professionals and executives. In the past few years, we’ve added departments to provide you with up-to-date information on the Minimum Data Set (MDS) and the Outcome and Assessment Information Set (OASIS). Through the director of nursing or administrator, ECPN reaches all extended care staff and provides information vital to each member of the extended care team. Our new design accurately reflects our commitment to strong, in-depth editorial.
       I’m also pleased to announce that ECPN will now arrive in your mailbox 9 times a year. Combined issues will be January/February, July/August, and November/December.
       While we’ve answered readers’ requests for a smaller, more reader-friendly size and increased our frequency of publication, we’ve tried to keep the departments as consistent and easily identifiable as in the past. Along with our wound care, skin care, incontinence, and infection control departments on the clinical side, we’ll continue to provide editorial on information management, wandering/fall reduction, capital equipment, and pharmacy on the financial side. With this issue, we’ve added a new department, “Director’s Chair.” This department will highlight one article within the issue that we feel is particularly timely and relevant to the role of director of nursing. We’ll continue along that path with a department geared toward the “C” level executive. Look for this department, called “Executive Summary,” in an upcoming edition of ECPN.
       On behalf of the staff and editorial board of ECPN, thank you for reading. I hope you enjoy the new and improved ECPN and welcome your feedback. Send your comments to ECPN, Attention: Letters to the Editor, 83 General Warren Blvd., Suite 100, Malvern, PA 19355, and we’ll publish them in the next issue.