Mrs Carol Brough¹, Mrs Sharon Rowe¹, Prof Fiona Wood¹

¹Fiona Stanley Hospital, Murdoch, Australia, ²Fiona Stanley Hospital, Murdoch, Australia, ³Fiona Stanley Hospital, Murdoch, Australia

Abstract:

Background

The majority of minor burn wounds heal in a timely manner with either conservative treatment or with surgery. When there is an interruption in the healing as a result of infection, local trauma, oedema, biofilm development further slows the healing and thus impacts on the number of visits required for dressings change.

Traditional moist wound healing treatment requires frequent dressing changes. In this study we used the PICO device to manage these wounds that normally require multiple dressing appointments. Non-healing wounds are often oedematous and painful. It has been shown that negative pressure assists the return of oedema to the systemic circulation (Copson, Wood & Rawlins 2017)

At first glance PICO is often seen as too expensive and is applied as a single use treatment rather than continuing to healing.

Cases

In our case series we would like to present 5 cases where the PICO was applied instead of traditional dressings.  We showed that the number of visits for multiple dressings changes was significantly reduced with implications for cost savings and improved patient satisfaction. All patients attended the burns outpatient department at Fiona Stanley Hospital in Perth.

Discussion

Use of PICO in a busy outpatient clinic resulted in reduced appointments for the patient, positive wound outcomes with wider implications for use as well as improvement in overall patient satisfaction. When forming a treatment plan including overall cost rather than individual product cost should be considered.

Biography:

Carol is an advanced skills enrolled nurse who has worked in Burns for over 30 years. Carol works in the burns unit, burns outpatients and burns early discharge program. She has a particular interest in improving efficiency in the burns outpatient clinic while still providing high level care.