Health benefits of an innovative model of care for chronic wounds patients in Queensland.

ABSTRACT

Wound management in Australia suffers from a lack of adequate coordination and communication between sectors that impacts patient outcomes and costs. Wound Innovations is a specialist service comprising of a transdisciplinary team that aims to streamline and improve patient care and outcomes. We compared patient experiences and outcomes prior to accessing this specialist service, and the 3 months following their enrolment at the clinic. Information on patient experiences, wound history, and outcomes was collected through interviews and a review of medical records for the 12 months prior to enrolment at the clinic. Wound progress, quality of life (QoL) outcomes, and service use were tracked during the 3-month prospective phase. A sample of 29 participants was recruited. 40% healed completely by 3 months, with the average time to healing being 8 weeks. The average QoL score at baseline was 0.69 (from a score of 1, being best health imaginable). At 3 months, the average QoL score increased significantly to 0.84 (P ≤0.001). On average, participants attended the clinic 4.6 times. The average decrease in wound size was 85.4% (95% CI [75.7%, 95%]). Accessing wound care treatment at a specialist, multidisciplinary wound clinic leads to an increase in QoL and access to consistent evidence-based practices.