A prospective, descriptive study to assess the reliability and usability of a rapid foot screen for patients with diabetes mellitus in a complex continuing care setting.

Inlow's 60-second Diabetic Foot Screen is a paper-pencil tool developed to guide professionals in the completion of a quick foot assessment of persons with diabetes mellitus to determine recommended frequency of assessments. The tool has been used in various healthcare settings and its reliability and validity previously tested in acute and long-term care settings. The purpose of this study was to assess content, time to complete assessment, ease of use, and reliability of the tool in a complex continuing care setting. The tool includes questions about 10 variables; skin, nails, deformities, footwear, temperature, range of motion, sensation, pulses, dependent rubor, and erythema. Answers convert to a score ranging from 0 (low risk, yearly screenings) to 23 (high risk, weekly screenings). Using the tool, the study questionnaire, and a watch, three nurse assessors experienced in assessing the feet of persons with diabetes completed 70 assessments on 35 patients during a period of 30 days. Content areas assessed included significance of comorbidities and interval screening times. Mean time to complete the assessment was 7 minutes (range 2 to 21 minutes); 39% of assessments took 6 to 7 minutes. Times to perform assessment varied widely due to the functional and cognitive well-being of the patient. Inter-rater reliability was low (ICC 0.608 [95% confidence interval 0.349-0.781]), perhaps due to varying interpretations of assessment parameters related to the complexity of the study patient population. Comments suggest that some tool revisions may increase ease of use as well as tool validity and reliability, especially for complex care patients with multiple comorbidities.

Evidence-based practice standards for the use of topical pressurised oxygen therapy.

Whenever a new therapy enters the wound care arena it is mandatory to deliver the best evidence to clinicians, healthcare administrators and policy makers to support integration of the technology into clinical practice. While this can often be problematic when novel therapies lack a large body of supporting evidence, methods that incorporate the use of expert opinion do exist to evaluate existing evidence and create consensus statements that can help guide decisions. Topical pressurised oxygen therapy is a method of delivering pressurised and humidified oxygen directly to the wound bed to support the healing of chronic and hypoxic wounds. This article will present the process by which the evidence was identified and evaluated as well as present standards based on the evidence related to topical pressurised oxygen therapy. We will show, through the use of the evidence, how this therapy can be a non invasive safe approach for wound management for selected patients in all clinical care settings.

The Wound CARE Instrument: the process for developing standards for wound management education and programming.

This article describes the collaborative process undertaken by the Canadian Association for Enterostomal Therapy and the Canadian Association of Wound Care in an effort to improve the quality of wound prevention and management education and programming. The end result of this process is the Wound CARE Instrument which promotes an interprofessional, collaborative appraisal process to support the development, adoption or adaption of wound management educational events and programs.

Development of the interRAI Pressure Ulcer Risk Scale (PURS) for use in long-term care and home care settings.

BACKGROUND: In long-term care (LTC) homes in the province of Ontario, implementation of the Minimum Data Set (MDS) assessment and The Braden Scale for predicting pressure ulcer risk were occurring simultaneously. The purpose of this study was, using available data sources, to develop a bedside MDS-based scale to identify individuals under care at various levels of risk for developing pressure ulcers in order to facilitate targeting risk factors for prevention. METHODS: Data for developing the interRAI Pressure Ulcer Risk Scale (interRAI PURS) were available from 2 Ontario sources: three LTC homes with 257 residents assessed during the same time frame with the MDS and Braden Scale for Predicting Pressure Sore Risk, and eighty-nine Ontario LTC homes with 12,896 residents with baseline/reassessment MDS data (median time 91 days), between 2005-2007. All assessments were done by trained clinical staff, and baseline assessments were restricted to those with no recorded pressure ulcer. MDS baseline/reassessment samples used in further testing included 13,062 patients of Ontario Complex Continuing Care Hospitals (CCC) and 73,183 Ontario long-stay home care (HC) clients. RESULTS: A data-informed Braden Scale cross-walk scale using MDS items was devised from the 3-facility dataset, and tested in the larger longitudinal LTC homes data for its association with a future new pressure ulcer, giving a c-statistic of 0.676. Informed by this, LTC homes data along with evidence from the clinical literature was used to create an alternate-form 7-item additive scale, the interRAI PURS, with good distributional characteristics and c-statistic of 0.708. Testing of the scale in CCC and HC longitudinal data showed strong association with development of a new pressure ulcer. CONCLUSIONS: interRAI PURS differentiates risk of developing pressure ulcers among facility-based residents and home care recipients. As an output from an MDS assessment, it eliminates duplicated effort required for separate pressure ulcer risk scoring. Moreover, it can be done manually at the bedside during critical early days in an admission when the full MDS has yet to be completed. It can be calculated with established MDS instruments as well as with the newer interRAI suite instruments designed to follow persons across various care settings (interRAI Long-Term Care Facilities, interRAI Home Care, interRAI Palliative Care).

Dilemmas in measuring and using pressure ulcer prevalence and incidence: an international consensus.

Pressure ulcer prevalence and incidence data are increasingly being used as indicators of quality of care and the efficacy of pressure ulcer prevention protocols. In some health care systems, the occurrence of pressure ulcers is also being linked to reimbursement. The wider use of these epidemiological analyses necessitates that all those involved in pressure ulcer care and prevention have a clear understanding of the definitions and implications of prevalence and incidence rates. In addition, an appreciation of the potential difficulties in conducting prevalence and incidence studies and the possible explanations for differences between studies are important. An international group of experts has worked to produce a consensus document that aims to delineate and discuss the important issues involved, and to provide guidance on approaches to conducting and interpreting pressure ulcer prevalence and incidence studies. The group's main findings are summarised in this paper.

Pressure ulcer awareness and prevention program: a quality improvement program through the Canadian Association of Wound Care.

The Canadian Association of Wound Care funded a study to determine the extent of pressure ulcers in Canada and discovered that the mean prevalence rate was 26%. Recognizing this as a significant health-related problem, the Canadian Association of Wound Care created a continuous quality improvement program known as the Pressure Ulcer Awareness and Prevention program to support a culture shift in healthcare settings, that is, shifting the emphasis on management from treatment of existing ulcers to their prevention. This program has been pilot tested, revised, and is being implemented in many Canadian healthcare facilities. The program is described and results are presented that demonstrate a reduction rate up to 57% (prevalence) and 71% (incidence).

A prospective, randomized, multisite clinical evaluation of a transparent absorbent acrylic dressing and a hydrocolloid dressing in the management of Stage II and shallow Stage III pressure ulcers.

OBJECTIVE: To compare clinical performance of a transparent absorbent acrylic dressing (3M Tegaderm Absorbent Clear Acrylic Dressing ]TAAD[; 3M Company, St Paul, MN) and a hydrocolloid dressing (HD ]DuoDERM CGF, ConvaTec, ER Squibb & Sons, Princeton, NJ[) in the management of Stage II and shallow Stage III pressure ulcers. DESIGN: Prospective, open-label, randomized, comparative, multisite clinical evaluation. Patients were followed up for a maximum of 56 days or until their ulcer healed. At weekly intervals, investigators conducted wound assessments and dressing performance evaluations. SETTING: Wound care clinics, home care, and long-term care. PATIENTS: Thirty-five patients received the TAAD, and 37 received the HD. OUTCOME MEASURES: Dressing performance assessments, patient comfort, dressing wear time, and wound healing were measured. RESULTS: The majority of investigator assessments favored the TAAD. Considerations given included the ability to center dressings over the ulcer (P = .005), ability to assess the ulcer before (P < .001) and after (P < .001) absorption, barrier properties (P = .039), patient comfort during removal (P < .001), overall patient comfort (P = .048), conformability before (P = .026) and after (P = .001) absorption, ease of removal (P < .001), nonadherence to wound bed (P < .001), residue in the wound (P = .002), residue on periwound skin (P < .001), and odor after absorption (P = .016). Overall satisfaction favored the TAAD (P < .001), and a high value was placed on its transparent feature (P < .001). Mean (SD) wear time for the TAAD was 5.7 (2.55) days compared with 4.7 (2.29) days for the HD (P = .086). This 1-day difference in wear time was clinically noticeable by the investigators (P = .035). Wound closure for the 2 dressing groups was nearly identical (P = .9627). CONCLUSIONS: Performance results favored the TAAD over the HD as standard treatment for Stage II and shallow Stage III pressure ulcers.

Best practice recommendations for the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of diabetic foot ulcers: update 2006.

PURPOSE: To provide the specialist in skin and wound care with evidence-based guidelines for care of the person with a diabetic foot ulcer. TARGET AUDIENCE: This continuing education activity is intended for physicians and nurses with an interest in wound care and related disorders. OBJECTIVES: After reading this article and taking this test, the reader should be able to: 1. Describe the pathophysiology, assessment, and diagnostic techniques related to diabetic foot ulcers. 2. Identify current, evidence-based preventative and treatment options for the diabetic foot ulcer.

Best practice recommendations for the prevention and treatment of venous leg ulcers: update 2006.

PURPOSE: To provide the specialist in skin and wound care with an update in recommended management of venous leg ulcers. TARGET AUDIENCE: This continuing education activity is intended for physicians and nurses with an interest in wound care and related disorders. OBJECTIVES: After reading this article and taking this test, the reader should be able to:Editor's note: This "Best Practice Recommendations" article is reprinted with permission from Wound Care Canada, The Official Publication of the Canadian Association of Wound Care (2006;4[1]:45-55). It is the third installment of 4 articles originally published in 2006, following the latest Nursing Best Practice Guidelines from the Registered Nurses Association of Ontario (RNAO), which are updated approximately every 3 years. In 2000, the Canadian Association of Wound Care produced and had published its first best practice recommendations for the prevention and treatment of pressure ulcers. In this article, best practice recommendations are discussed for the prevention and treatment of pressure ulcers. The evidence presented is connected to the RNAO's recommendations from its review of the literature up to the writing of its 2006 guidelines. Clinical decision-making in the treatment of pressure ulcers can be guided by the algorithm that directs the clinician to identify and treat the underlying causes, to identify and manage patient-centered concerns, and to provide for good local wound care, considering adjunctive therapies or biologically active dressings when the edge of the wound is not advancing. Finally, the recommendations advise putting into place those organizational and educational activities that support the translations of the guidelines into practice.

The International Interdisciplinary Wound Care Course at the University of Toronto: a 4-year evolution.

The International Interdisciplinary Wound Care Course at the University of Toronto was designed to emphasise interdisciplinary collaboration, examine the evidence base and develop wound care opinion leaders across Canada and internationally. There is a need to translate the new wound care evidence base for diagnosis and treatment into patient care and ultimately improve patient outcomes.

A dressing history.

Over the past 30 years as caregivers, clinicians have been exposed to a plethora of new advanced wound dressings. The moist wound care revolution began in the 1970s with the introduction of film and hydrocolloid dressings, and today these are the traditional types of dressings of the advanced dressing categories. Wound-healing science has progressed significantly over the same period, as a result of intense clinical and scientific research around these product introductions. Today, the clinician understands moist wound healing, occlusion, cost effectiveness, wound bed preparation and MMP activity to name but a few of the many concepts in wound care that have flourished as a result of technology and product advancement. This review article presents a condensed history of dressing development over the past 30 years. However, in addition, such advancement is discussed in respect to its adoption in different parts of the world. The largest single markets of the world are generally the United States of America and Europe; as such, the development of both practice and technology generally begins there. Much has been written about these markets in previous review articles. For the purposes of this review, the development of wound care and the maturing of practice is discussed in respect to Canada, Japan and Australia representing smaller geographical areas where the development has been more recent but nonetheless significant.

Preparing the wound bed 2003: focus on infection and inflammation.

Wound bed preparation is the promotion of wound closure through diagnosis of the cause, attention to patient-centered concerns, and correction of systemic and local factors that may delay healing. To enhance the evidence base that may be lacking, a review of relevant literature was conducted and combined with input from the International Wound Bed Preparation Advisory Board and the Canadian Chronic Wound Advisory Board to create an updated examination of practices. A template based on expert opinion of the clinical actions corresponding to each step in the paradigm of preparing the wound bed is presented and the effects of local factors (tissue debridement, infection or inflammation, moisture balance, and edge effect [TIME]) are discussed. This review differentiates increased bacterial burden/infection in the superficial and deep wound bed compartments from inflammation and provides a topical approach to treatment. Inflammatory conditions causing leg ulcers, including pyoderma gangrenosum and vasculitis are reviewed. The topical combination of silver with absorptive dressings has led to new therapeutic options for increased bacterial burden in the surface wound compartment. A compilation of the available systematic reviews for the treatment of infection has been included as a background for the expert opinion.

Pain in diabetic foot ulcers.

People with diabetes who have foot ulcers require adequate vasculature, infection control, and pressure offloading to heal. Pain is uncommon in diabetic foot disorders, but it may herald the onset of limb-threatening complications such as deep infection, Charcot change, or critical ischemia. Although neuropathy is most commonly painless, a minority of patients experience disturbing burning, stinging, stabbing, or shooting sensations. Using the "preparing the wound bed" model, the cause of pain in the person with diabetic foot problems can be diagnosed systematically and important therapeutic measures can be instituted in an attempt to prevent potential complications, including amputation.