Challenge of caring for patients with highly exudating wounds; current practice and the potential role for a superabsorbent dressing

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* 1. How do you document/chart exudate volume?

Low, medium, high, wet, saturated

+, ++, +++

By dressing change frequency

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* 2. Which of the following is the best improvement in wound care dressings in treating medium-high exuding wounds in the past five years?

Introduction of superabsorbent dressings

Negative pressure wound therapy

‘Add-ons’ to a dressing

Exudate-handling capacity

Ease of application to involve patients in their own care

Pain-free dressing changes

Longer wear time

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* 3. Which of the following wound types, that you see in your daily practice, are the highest exuding wounds?

Venous leg ulcers

Pressure ulcers

Acute wounds

Fungating wounds

Other (please specify)

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* 4. Does dressing choice affect patient quality of life?

Yes

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* 5. For medium to very high exuding wounds, which dressing do you most choose:

Superabsorbents

Foams

Alginates

Hydrofibers

Other (please specify)

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* 6. Which of the following are reasons/indications to start using a superabsorber?

Presence of strikethrough

Poor exudate absorption of previous dressing used

Wound infection

To control matrix metalloproteinases (MMPS)

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* 7. Which of the following are reasons/indications to stop using a superabsorber?

Reduction in exudate volume

Wound progressing to healing

Dressing sticking to wound bed

Sensitivity to product

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* 8. Which 10x10cm dressing is more expensive?

Superabsorber

Foam

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* 9. Have you considered using a superabsorber instead of a foam to reduce cost of treatment?

Yes

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* 10. Do you consider the unit cost of product when you decide how to manage a wound?

Yes

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* 11. If resources and product availability were not an issue, would you use more, same, or less of superabsorber?

Less

Same

Clear

i We adjusted the number you entered based on the slider’s scale.

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* 12. If you could only have one product on your formulary, which of the following would you have?

Foam

Superabsorber

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* 13. What do you think is the current trend in treating medium to high exuding wounds?

Superabsorbents

Foams

Additional layers to a foam dressing

Other (please specify)

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* 14. Which of the following negative points do you associate with superabsorbers?

Behaving like a nappy or teabag

Conformability

Leaving marks on skin

Restricted sizes

Lack of education on how to use the product

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* 15. Would education give you more confidence to use superabsorbers on a wider variety of wound types and stages of wound healing?

Yes