Refining the standards in the field of wound care

The one thing you need to know about outcomes measurement: It is implausible to improve the quality of clinical wound care without measuring patient outcomes.  Unfortunately, reliable, validated and risk-adjusted outcome data in wound care does not exist.

If our goal is to deliver, measure, and report value, then it becomes important to focus on two key aspects of the wound care continuum:

• Health-related Quality of Life, and
• Rate of wound healing.

HRQoL: The Rationale

• Efforts to improve quality of life are integral to all wound care regimens.
• Maximizing the level of functioning in patients with lower extremity wounds is an important treatment goal. Changes in functional status are key measures of outcome.
• Quality of life outcome measurement is increasingly recognized as essential to patients and family members who are seeking an active participation in treatment decisions.

Rate of wound healing: The Rationale

• An examination of wound size is crucial to monitoring the efficacy of wound treatment.
• Wound healing rates serve as a basis for treatment modification.