Here - EWMA 2013

E-Poster: Wound Assessment
EP 546
THE IMPACT OF IMPLEMENTING EVIDENCE STANDARDIZED WOUND
ASSESSMENT TOOL IN PLANNING OF QUALITY CARE FOR PATIENTS WITH
WOUND
Mounia Sabasse 1 , Shyarlin Ruba 1
EP 547
European wound-registry (EWR) – characteristics and
methodology
E-Poster: Wound Assessment
Matthias Augustin 7 , Martin Storck 2 , Martin Schmidt 2 , Katharina Herberger 1 ,
Uwe Imkamp 3 , Thomas Wild 4 , Sebastian Debus 5 , Kristina Heyer 6
1 University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, CVderm, Hamburg (Hamburg,
Germany);
2 Clinic for Vascular and Thoracic surgery, Städtisches Klinikum Karlsruhe (Karlsruhe,
Germany);
3 Mamedicon GmbH (Magdeburg, Germany);
4 German Wound Academy (Germany);
5 Clinic for Vascular Surgery, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf (Hamburg,
Germany).
6 German Center for Health Services research in Dermatology, (Hamburg, Germany).
7 Institute for Health Services Research in Dermatology and Nursing, University Clinics of
Hamburg
In health services research chronic wounds are particularly suitable for long-term
observation studies since healing time often lasts months and years. Furthermore,
comorbidity and co-medication are frequent, thus limiting the performance of randomized
clinical trials. In spite of the great need for registry data, until recently, no patient
registries for chronic wounds have been started. The European wound-registry (EWR)
was initiated to gather prospective data and outcomes from routine care of chronic
wounds in the community.
Patients with chronic wounds of any origin, regardless of treatment are included.
According to a standardized item list, the data are obtained from wound treating centers
in Europe. Original data are documented by local IT solutions. The migration of the data
to the central database which occurs at regular intervals by defined interfaces is induced
after local data cleaning. Quality of data is assured by standardized data sets, quality
checks and pausibility controls at each stage of data migration.
Since the start of the registry in 2011 n=2402 patients from 27 centers from Germany
and Austria were included. About 16 different outcomes were included in a common data
set. The first feasibility analysis showed distribution of diagnoses as follows: leg ulcers
(69%), diabetic foot ulcers (21%) and pressure ulcers (10%). The persistence rate until
now is higher than 95%. Further analysis involving more baseline data, wound
characteristics and outcomes are in process.
To date, the EWR is enlarged to another five European countries. It is open to data from
further wound networks and countries.
1 DHA.RH (DUBAI, Arab Emirates);
2 DHA (DUBAI, Arab Emirates).
Back Ground: The medical records of patients with wounds lacked consistency in the
wound assessment and documentation due to lack of standardized tools. Optimal care
is not always provided by nurses, leading to delayed healing, increased risk of infection,
and inappropriate use of wound dressings. This results in a reduction of patients’ quality
of life.
Aim: To improve the quality of care for patients with wounds through implementing
standardized wound assessment and documentation tool.
Method: A quality improvement process focusing on the wound assessment and
documentation practice was conducted across a 600 bed trauma hospital. Randomized
chart audits and clinical observations were used to analyze the current process. The
wound care nurses along with the wound link nurse forum did root- cause analysis
regarding the shortcomings in the current process.The forum designed a balance score
card to systematically plan and implement selected interventions. A standardized wound
assessment tool along with the guidelines was developed and implemented.A pocket
guide with pictorial information on wound assessment was adapted, modified and
distributed to all the nurses.
Results: The impact of the project was checked by serial auditing after the
implementation of the wound assessment and documentation tool. The results showed
progressive improvements which reached up to 80% in the last audit.
Conclusion: Implementation of a standardized and structured wound assessment tool
is essential for appropriate and realistic goal planning for patients with wounds.
E-POSTER: WOUND ASSESSMENT
EWMA 2013
COPENHAGEN
15-17 May · 2013
Danish Wound
Healing Society
309