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Thesis (MMed) -- Stellenbosch University, 2010. / Bibliography / Chronic wounds afflict millions worldwide, incurring significant health care costs and chronic suffering. Clinicians are often unsure about treatment, resulting in poor outcomes. Objective To determine the scope of knowledge possessed by fifth year medical students, general practitioners (GP’s) and surgical registrars, concerning chronic wound management. Design Cross sectional study Methods Deans of eight South African medical schools received letters requesting information regarding time devoted to wound-care training. Knowledge-based questionnaires were distributed to final-year students at two universities, surgical registrars at three universities and general practitioners attending refresher courses. Result. Four medical schools replied, of whom only two offered formal teaching. 162 medical students, 45 GP’s and 47 surgical registrars completed questionnaires. The overall median (25th–75th percentiles) knowledge scores for registrars, GP’s and students were 65%;(55%–70%), 55%;(45%–65%) and 45%;(35%–50%) respectively. Whereas the scores of registrars and GP’s did not differ, the student scores were significantly less. Only 32% of registrars and 18% of GP’s attained scores of 70% or more. 96% considered training to be inadequate. Interest in wound-care was only mild to moderate, with more GP’s than registrars requesting literature. Conclusions Very little, if any training on chronic wounds is offered in South Africa. The levels of knowledge cannot be considered adequate for successful treatment, nor for teaching to undergraduates. This preliminary study cannot reflect the attitudes and knowledge throughout the country; however it is clear that there is a need for improved education about these conditions that have huge clinical and economic consequences.

Introduktion En stor del av distriktsköterskans arbetstid utgörs av sårvård. Cirka två procent av befolkningen drabbas någon gång av svårläkta bensår vilket orsakar stort fysiskt och psykiskt lidande för dessa personer. Studier på andra sårtyper visar att användning av antiseptiska och mikrobreducerande förband har en positiv effekt på sårläkning. Denna studie sammanställer studier om effekten av förband med honung, silver, jod, PHMB och DACC på svårläkta bensår. Syfte Att sammanställa studier som undersöker effekten hos antiseptiska och mikrobreducerande förband som används i dagens sjukvård för att behandla svårläkta bensår. Metod Systematisk litteraturstudie. Sökningar gjordes i databaserna PubMed, Cinahl och Cochrane, samt i referenslistor till review studier som framkom vid sökningarna. Efter en urvalsprocess hittades 15 studier som besvarade syftet.   Resultat De inkluderade studierna gav inget entydigt resultat. Honungsförband förbättrade läkningen eller var likvärdigt med standardbehandling i de inkluderade studierna Silverförband hade en positiv effekt på läkningen i övervägande del av de inkluderade studierna. I en studie var ett annat antiseptiskt ämne bättre än silver och i en studie visade sig silverförband vara likvärdigt med standardbehandling. Jodförband visade sig vara likvärdigt med silverförband i fråga om läkning och PHMB-förband var likvärdigt med standardbehandling Slutsats Majoriteten av de inkluderade studierna tyder på att antiseptiska förband har en positiv effekt på sårläkningen hos svårläkta bensår. Då ingen av studierna visade att de undersökta förbanden var sämre än standardbehandling, eller hade negativa effekter på sårläkningen, så är det förenligt med evidensbaserad omvårdnad att använda förbanden på patienter med svårläkta bensår utan risk för att fördröja eller försämra läkningen. / Introduction A considerable part of the district nurse's working time consists of wound care. Approximately two percent of the population will sometime be affected by hard to heal leg ulcers which is the cause of physical as well as psychic suffering for these people. Studies of other wound types shows that the usage of antiseptic and microbe reducing wound dressings have a positive effect on wound healing. This study review studies about the effect of wound dressings with honey, silver, iodine, PHMB and DACC on hard to heal leg ulcers.   Aim To review studies that examines the effect of antiseptic and microbe reducing wound dressings that are being used in today’s health care to treat hard to heal leg ulcers. Method Systematic review. Searches were made in databases Pubmed, Cinahl and Cochrane as well as manually among references in review articles that were found through the searches. After a selection process 15 studies were found which proved to be relevant to the study’s aim.   Results The included studies gave no coherent result. Honey dressings improved healing or were equivalent to standard care in the included studies. Silver dressings had a positive effect on wound healing in the predominant proportion of the included studies. In one study, another antiseptic substance had better results than silver, in another study silver dressings turned out to be equivalent to standard care. Iodine dressings turned out to be equivalent to silver dressings in the case of healing and PHMB dressings were equivalent to standard care. Conclusion The majority of the included studies indicates that antiseptic wound dressings have a positive effect on healing of hard to heal leg ulcers. None of the included studies showed that the examined wound dressings were less effective than standard care or had any negative effects on wound healing. Therefore, it can be considered safe and compatible with evidence-based nursing to use the antiseptic dressings on hard to heal leg ulcers.

Presently, plastic surgeons do not have a methodology for non-invasive, real-time assessment of wound tissue properties. It is of extreme importance to objectively determine the health of wound tissue and the level of bacterial infection before surgical closure of the wound is attempted. Wounds that possess significant areas of low blood perfusion and high levels of bacteria will not be successfully grafted. Thus, this research aims at identifying and testing a measurable parameter for the assessment of tissue properties in acute and chronic wounds. Tissue pH, which is easily measured, has been proven to detect the presence of tissue ischemia. In this research, the variations of tissue pH levels in patient wounds and the relationship between tissue pH and bacteria levels were explored. Micro-combination pH electrodes were tested; software algorithms for acquiring and processing raw tissue pH data were developed; and calibration, sterilization, animal, and clinical protocols were designed. Animal and clinical studies were performed. Small variations in tissue pH values were found within patient wounds and between patient cases. A qualitative relationship between tissue pH levels and bacterial contamination was identified. As the bacterial contamination, rises, the averaage tissue pH level tends to decrease. A methodology that clinicians can use to efficiently measure tissue pH in wounds was developed. This research provides preliminary work in an area that has not been previously explored. It was shown that tissue pH measurements can be acquired efficiently, non-invasively, and with no discomfort to the patient. The incorporation of tissue pH measurements into the evaluation of wounds will contribute to providing an objective measure of the health of the tissue and aid plastic surgeons in the development of patient treatments.

Chronic diabetic foot ulcers, venous leg ulcers and pressure ulcers affect a large subset of the United State population yet they remain a challenge for physicians to treat. There are many different types of products on the market for the treatment of chronic wounds. Some use living cells but only two are FDA approved to heal chronic wounds. A new type of product recently garnered attention in the wound care market because it also contains living cells: hypothermically stored amniotic tissue products. Hypothermically stored amniotic tissue is unique because it maintains living cells and offers the benefits of containing signaling molecules and maintaining an intact extra cellular matrix. While there are other types of amniotic or placental tissue products in the wound care market, they are processed by dehydration or cryopreservation which limits their capacities for maintaining living cells. This thesis will explore the potential for hypothermically processed amniotic tissue products to treat chronic wounds.

The purpose of this study was to identify any barriers or enablers as influences on wound care self-management by Indigenous people. A qualitative, interpretive study sought to investigate how participants perceived their wounds and their general health, and to identify the influences on them accessing wound care services. There is a dearth of information on culturally appropriate practice in wound management for Indigenous Australians. This research project was therefore significant in attempting to bridge the gap in nursing knowledge of Indigenous clients' perceptions of barriers and enablers for seeking wound care services,especially in relation to lower leg ulcers. The lack of culturally sensitive wound management practices potentially impacts on Indigenous clients' behaviours in seeking treatment from their health service providers. Participant observations and semi-structured interviews with the research participants investigated the management of their wounds, and the ways in which their culture influences wound management. The main aim was to understand participants' comprehension of the importance of wound care through reflection. Understanding the enhancing or obstructive influences on wound management practices was expected to provide a foundation for teaching self care of wounds in Indigenous populations and inform health professionals' approach to health education. The data were analysed using thematic analysis, which generated common themes related to the research questions. These themes are: visibility, of the problem,4 perceived versus actual level of knowledge, acceptance of co-morbid health conditions and pre-determined path of ill health. These findings indicated that in one region, participants' perception of poor health was related to visibility of the problem. Participants chose to have their visible wounds managed by Silver Chain Nursing Association, whereas Diabetes and Hypertension and any other non-visible disorders were seen as appropriate to the Aboriginal Medical Service (AMS). Further to this finding, most participants displayed a sense of helplessness and hopelessness when sharing information about their diagnosis of diabetes, believing this was the norm. Many also believed that having a strong family history of a particular disease resulted in the participants also inheriting the disease. During post interview educational sessions many of the Indigenous participants were surprised by the evidence based-research reported to them by the researcher that diabetes is a manageable disease with life style changes. Another issue highlighted was the perceived level of knowledge the participants had about wound care. Reassurance was given by the participants that their level of knowledge about how to manage their wounds was adequate. However, none of the participants were concerned about the length of time that their wound/s had or were being managed, between 3 months and 5 years. This acceptance that although a wound is not getting any worse and not getting any better was the norm is cause for concern, and indicates a low level of health literacy. This theme was 'perceiving an imbalance in perceptions of wound care knowledge with actual knowledge'. The most important recommendation from the study findings is the need to consider health literacy more carefully in the development of health promotion and health education for Indigenous clients with wounds.

Sår och sårvård har existerat lika länge som människan levt. För att kunna utföra sårvård som täcker patientens vårdbehov är sjuksköterskan i nuläget dåligt utrustad. Sjuksköterskan har liten kunskap om prevention, bedömning och behandling av sår. Syftet var att belysa faktorer som påverkar sjuksköterskans sårvård. En litteraturstudie utfördes enligt Fribergs modell. Faktorer som påverkade sjuksköterskans sårvård var sjuksköterskans kunskap, upplevelser samt sjuksköterskans samarbete med teamet. Ytterligare faktorer var omvårdnadsdokumentationen, tiden, organisationen och kostnadens inverkan på sjuksköterskans sårvård samt sjuksköterskan i relation till den evidensbaserade sårvården. Studenter i sjuksköterskeutbildning men även färdigutbildade sjuksköterskor behöver mer utbildning om sårvård. Hälso- och sjukvårdsorganisationerna måste bidra med mer personalresurser och tid för att främja en god sårvård. Organisationerna måste bidra med tydliga riktlinjer och se till att sjuksköterskan följer dessa. Det är sjuksköterskans ansvar att följa riktlinjer och söka upp samt ta till sig evidensbaserad kunskap om sårvård. Det krävs mer forskning kring faktorer som påverkar sjuksköterskans sårvård till patienter. Sårvården kan förbättras genom att faktorerna som påverkar sjuksköterskans sårvård uppmärksammas.

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / Este trabalho teve como objetivo geral caracterizar o tratamento de feridas complexas num hospital geral nos meses de fevereiro e março de 2013.

Gabriel A, Shores J, Bernstein B, de Leon J, Kamepalli R, Wolvos T, Baharestani MM, Gupta S. A Clinical Review of Infected Wound Treatment with Vacuum Assisted Closure ® (V.A.C. ®) Therapy: Experience and Case Series. ABSTRACT Over the last decade Vacuum Assisted Closure ® (KCI Licensing, Inc., San Antonio, TX) has been established as an effective wound care modality for managing complex acute and chronic wounds. The therapy has been widely adopted by many institutions to treat a variety of wound types. Increasingly, the therapy is being used to manage infected and critically colonized, difficult-to-treat wounds. This growing interest coupled with practitioner uncertainty in using the therapy in the presence of infection prompted the convening of an interprofessional expert advisory panel to determine appropriate use of the different modalities of negative pressure wound therapy (NPWT) as delivered by V.A.C. ® Therapy and V.A.C. Instill ® with either GranuFoam ™ or GranuFoam Silver ™ Dressings. The panel reviewed infected wound treatment methods within the context of evidence-based medicine coupled with experiential insight using V.A.C. ® Therapy Systems to manage a variety of infected wounds. The primary objectives of the panel were 1) to exchange state-of-practice evidence, 2) to review and evaluate the strength of existing data, and 3) to develop practice recommendations based on published evidence and clinical experience regarding use of the V.A.C. ® Therapy Systems in infected wounds. These recommendations are meant to identify which infected wounds will benefit from the most appropriate V.A.C. ® Therapy System modality and provide an infected wound treatment algorithm that may lead to a better understanding of optimal treatment strategies.

Although guidelines and minimal standards for the care and documentation of wounds in home health care settings in the United States are available, there is a lack of compliance among many home health care agencies (HHAs) with regard to the accuracy of wound documentation and care of wounds. Failure to follow guidelines for wound care according to Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and Home Health Outcome and Assessment Information System standards could result in loss of revenue for HHAs, improper treatment of wounds, and legal ramifications. The purpose of this doctoral project was to develop and validate a staff educational module on wounds and wound documentation for an HHA. Benner's from-novice-to-expert model was the conceptual framework for understanding nurses' matriculation. The practice-focused question focused on whether a wound staff educational module increased the home health care nurse's knowledge about wounds and wound documentation. A 5-level Likert scale was used by an expert panel to validate the staff educational module. Descriptive analysis was used to evaluate the data. The results of the survey supported implementing the educational module with recommendations (overall percentage 93% [4.4]). The findings of this project contribute to social change by increasing nurses' knowledge of wound care, improving the quality of wound care, increasing reimbursement and revenue, and decreasing the cost of care for wounds.