References
A clinical observational case series evaluation of a superabsorbent dressing on exudating wounds
Abstract
The annual cost to the NHS of managing 3.8 million patients with a wound was estimated in 2020 to be £8.3 billion, of which £5.6 billion was spent on the 30% of wounds that did not heal and £2.7 billion on the 70% of wounds that healed (Guest, 2020). One of the main symptoms associated with chronic ‘hard-to-heal’ wounds is the production of excess exudate (Atkin et al, 2019). This is due to a prolonged chronic inflammatory response stimulated by a physiological cause. This article describes what exudate is and its importance in the wound healing process, highlighting the consequences of too little or excessive wound exudate associated with any wound. The article goes on to describe a case series observational study involving a range of patients (n=47; 33 male/14 female), aged between 33 and 91 years (mean 67.4 years), with a variety of acute (n=11) and chronic exuding wounds (n=44). In total, 55 wounds of various aetiologies were managed with DryMax Super (a dressing whose design includes superabsorbent polymers) in order to evaluate and report on the absorption and fluid-handling properties of the product.
The annual cost to the NHS of managing 3.8 million patients with a wound was estimated in 2020 to be £8.3 billion, of which £5.6 billion was spent on the 30% of wounds that did not heal and £2.7 billion on the 70% of wounds that healed (Guest, 2020).
One of the main symptoms associated with chronic ‘hard-to-heal’ wounds, defined as wounds that ‘do not close after care for up to a year or more’, is the production of excess exudate (Atkin et al, 2019). This is due to a prolonged chronic inflammatory response stimulated by a physiological cause, as occurs in malignant fungating wounds (Bernardes et al, 2021), and diabetic foot, venous and category 4 pressure ulcers (Atkin et al, 2019).
However, since there has been a 46% decrease in district nurses since 2010 (Queen's Nursing Institute, Royal College of Nursing, 2019), clinicians' knowledge of how to manage heavily exuding wounds may vary across the UK, consequently leaving patients to receive variable care that may impact on anticipated health outcomes and patients' quality of life (Edwards, 2013).
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