Objective: To study the impact of a newly introduced dressing on efficiency and quality of care in routine clinical practice in a Spanish community setting.
Design and setting: An ambispective multicenter observational study was conducted in 24 primary care centers and 6 nursing homes in 4 different Spanish regions. The study was carried out between November 2017 and March 2019.
Patients and intervention: A total of 128 wounds in 94 patients (primary care, n = 79; nursing home, n = 15) were analyzed before and 4 weeks after switching to the study dressing.
Outcome measures: Frequency of dressing changes; secondary outcomes were change in the mean wound area and weekly cost and patient and provider satisfaction.
Main results: The mean number of dressing changes was significantly reduced with the study dressing from 3.14 ± 1.77 changes per week to 1.66 ± 0.87 (P < .001), a 47.1% reduction in frequency. Wound area significantly reduced from 9.90 ± 19.62 cm to 7.10 ± 24.33 cm. In addition, a 58.7% reduction in weekly costs was achieved with the intervention. Patients and providers agreed that their satisfaction with wound care improved.
Conclusions: The use of the study dressing in routine clinical practice could lead to a major improvement in both efficiency and quality of wound care. Its use could reduce wound care-related costs through improvements in healing and a reduced frequency of dressing changes. It also enhanced the wound care experience from the perspective of both patients and providers.