Here - EWMA 2013

E-POSTER PRESENTATIONS
EP 500
E-Poster: Education
The role of the pharmacist as a member of a multidisciplinary
wound care team – A systematic review
Aisling English 1 , Zena Moore 1
1 RCSI (Dublin, Ireland).
Aim: To conduct a systematic review of the literature to explore the role of the
pharmacist as a member of a multidisciplinary wound care team.
Background: Wounds are a significant global problem impacting negatively on health
and social gain. Due to the complex nature of wounds, a multidisciplinary approach is
required to ensure the delivery of cost effective, efficient care pathways. Pharmacists, as
members of a multidisciplinary wound team, have the potential to contribute to
enhancing patient outcomes and delivery of care. However, their precise role has not
been previously explored in a systematic way, thus this review set out to bridge this
theory-practice gap.
Methods: A systematic review of the literature was undertaken. Electronic databases
were searched including Pubmed, the Cochrane library, EBSCO CINAHL, Ovid
EMBASE, Web of Knowledge and Science Direct. Reference lists, textbooks and
websites were also explored (dates). A data extraction sheet was employed to extract
and summarise all relevant findings of included studies.
Results: Three studies and two reviews were located exploring the role of the
pharmacist in the context of a multidisciplinary wound care team. Three major themes
emerged from these papers which delineated the pharmacist’s contribution to
multidisciplinary wound management. These themes included patient safety, enhanced
clinical outcomes and significant cost avoidance. Such themes were illustrated through
the primary and secondary outcomes of the review, for example, the percentage of
wounds healed, achievement of total pain relief and reduction in overall treatment costs.
However, the studies reviewed were of poor methodological quality, thereby limiting any
firm conclusions which may be drawn from the findings.
Conclusion: This review identified three key areas where the pharmacist contributed to
the outcomes achieved by the multidisciplinary wound team. However, poor
methodological quality of the studies included limit the conclusions which may be drawn
from these findings. Further research is warranted to fully elucidate the role of the
pharmacist as a member of the multidisciplinary wound team.
E-POSTER: HEALTH ECONOMICS & OUTCOME
EP 501
E-Poster: Health Economics & Outcome
PORTABLE SINGLE-USE NEGATIVE PRESSURE WOUND THERAPY CAN REDUCE
NPWT TREATMENT COSTS WHILST PROMOTING PATIENT-CENTRED WOUND
CARE
Paul Trueman 1 , Theresa Hurd 2 , Alan Rossington 1
1 Smith & Nephew (Hull, United Kingdom);
2 Nursing Practice Solutions (Ontario, Canada).
Background: The advent of portable single-use negative pressure wound therapy
(NPWT) has the potential to make advanced wound therapy more accessible. Portable,
canister-less NPWT devices reduce the impact of treatment on patients, allowing
improved mobility and less interference with activities of daily living, whilst offering
comparable levels of clinical performance to the larger, traditional NPWT devices.
Furthermore, the cost of portable NPWT is typically lower than comparable treatment
with traditional NPWT.
Aim: The objective of this study was to estimate the potential cost savings that could
result by replacing traditional NPWT with a portable, single-use, canister-less NPWT
system (1) in appropriate patients.
Methods: An historic database of patients treated with traditional NPWT in Canada,
between 2009 and 2012, was reviewed to identify how many patients could have been
treated with portable NPWT. Criteria to identify patients who would have been eligible for
portable NPWT included wound exudate levels, wound size and wound depth.
Results: The findings suggest that between 15% and 50% of patients who were treated
with traditional NPWT could have been effectively treated with portable NPWT. The
weekly cost of portable NPWT is approximately 26% of the weekly cost of traditional
NPWT in Canada.
Conclusion: The adoption of a portfolio approach to NPWT, comprising traditional and
portable NPWT, offers the potential to reduce treatment costs whilst also promoting
patient centred care. Rational adoption of portable NPWT allows for more patients to be
treated with NPWT without increasing budgets.
(1) PICO Single-use NPWT System (Smith & Nephew Ltd., UK)
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