Device-related pressure ulcers in community settings.

Understanding the differential diagnosis between device-related pressure ulcers (DRPUs) and pressure ulcers ensures that appropriate prevention, management and intervention plans are identified. National reporting systems now include DRPUs alongside other categories of pressure ulcers listed by international pressure ulcer advisory panels. Medical devices are not the only cause of DRPUs, and, in the community setting, other objects can also cause pressure ulcers, such as spectacles and hearing aids.

Updated leg ulcer pathway: improving healing times and reducing costs.

Regardless of the amount of literature and evidence on leg ulcer management, there are still significant variations in treatment. Implementing a standardised leg ulcer pathway to ensure patients are appropriately and timely assessed could help reduce nursing time and overall costs, while improving healing outcomes and patients' quality of life. Such a pathway was introduced in Lincolnshire and Leicestershire, UK, to treat venous leg ulcers (VLUs).

ReadyWrap®: case studies in practice.

The cost that chronic wound care imposes on both patients and health services worldwide is well recognised. Most patients with venous leg ulcers require compression therapy over the long term, for both treatment as well as to prevent recurrence of these wounds. Caring for patients with chronic wounds makes up a large part of the workload for district and community nurses, and encouraging self-management among patients is a worthwhile effort to limit the costs and resources directed for this purpose.

Mitigating the damaging effects of tissue distortions by using a low-friction heel protector.

This article reports the finding of a small non-controlled evaluation over a 2-week period in three different care settings: a residential care home, an acute stroke unit and a community intermediate care hospital. At initial recruitment 30 patients were identified by clinical assessment as being at high risk of developing a heel pressure ulcer. Further inclusion criteria were identifying heels that had signs of pressure damage occurring, blanching and non-blanching erythema, blistering and category 2 ulceration.