Success of the WEF-CEP Patient Opinion Survey Relies on Great Wound Teams!


The survey is successful because of the passionate care provided by our nation’s
wound teams and the clinicians who understand why this is so important. We recently
asked some of these clinicians to tell us why they took time out of their busy days to
help patients complete the survey.

 


John J. Casey RN,BSN,CWON, South Shore Hospital Center for Wound Healing

 

Why is the survey important to you?

 The opinion survey for people with wounds was administered to either the
patient with a wound or their caregiver if they were unable to answer for
themselves. It allowed the opinions an avenue to be expressed regarding what is
important to them in the healing PROCESS of a wound. It identified that there is a
process to wound healing that can be measured and not just by wound closure. The
results gathered illustrate that pain, wound odor, scarring, potential infection, use of
antibiotics, elimination of dead tissue, blood flow to a wound, strength of the healing
wound, reduction of possible amputations, and associated costs for treatment were
all considerations to people with wounds and not just wound closure.

 

It was important for me to help people with wounds know they have a voice
that needs to be heard. The collective voice is what should help drive positive
changes in the approval process of new treatments to the FDA, Medicare, and
Medicaid. The governing bodies need to appreciate that there may be better options
to expedite the process of wound healing.

 

What have I learned from the patients who completed the survey?

 Gathering the data revealed people with wounds have a long and sometimes
embarrassing road ahead of them before a wound closes. One patient talked about
the odor of a wound and feeling isolated that bystanders would verbalize the words
“what is that horrible smell”, knowing it was their wound. They worried that after
the wound healed it would just open again. The wound was always a concern for
possible local or even systemic infection. Dressing supply costs and co pays to
wound centers were a concern. Most men did not care about scarring but most
women did. Every participant expressed a true concern for the loss of a digit or limb
through amputation. All of the patients surveyed were happy to be part of
something that could somehow effect positive change for all wound closure.
 

 

Do you have a ‘pearl’ as to how best to present the survey to patients and family?

I explained to each person involved in the survey that it was being done to
get the opinion of the person with the wound, to be collected and presented to the
FDA , Medicare and Medicaid. It was the person with the wound’s opportunity to
speak directly to the state and federal government and express there is a number of
concerns to help close a wound. By doing this it may quicken the process of
approving new treatments to heal wounds faster.

 


Coreen McCann, Program Director, Loma Linda Wound Care and Hyperbaric
Medicine Center

 

Why is this survey important to you?

The importance is opening further communication with our patients.
Providing a tool that could potentially improve the quality of care we provide
our patients is why this survey is important to our team.


What have you learned from the patients who completed the survey?

We have learned that patients see value in the questions provided and sparks
interest in their own healing process.

 


Do you have a ‘pearl’ as to how best to present the survey to patients and family?

We offer the survey to our patients as a way to help others improve wound
care outcomes in the future. We explain the survey assistances in understanding
more about people with wounds and what is important to them.