Clinical research on the use of bordered foam dressings in thetreatment of complex wounds: a systematic review of reportedoutcomes and applied measurement instruments

Journal of Tissue Viability 2022 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jtv.2022.05.005

Raepsaet, C., Alves, P., Cullen, B., Gefen, A., Lazaro-Martinez, J.L., Lev-Tov, H., Najafi, B., Santamaria, N., Sharpe, A., Swanson, T., Woo, K., Beeckman, D.

Introduction

• Bordered foam dressings have become increasingly popular in the treatment of complex wounds because of their specific features.
• Despite the popularity of bordered foam dressings, it is unclear which outcomes are being measured to evaluate their effectiveness and how these are measured across research centres and groups.

Aims

• To identify reported outcomes and measurement instruments used in clinical research on bordered foam dressings in the treatment of complex wounds.

Methods

• MEDLINE (PubMed interface), Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL), EMBASE, and The Cochrane Library were systematically searched using a combination of key terms including: wounds, bordered foam dressings, and treatment.
• Studies were included if they (i) targeted an adult population; (ii) addressed the treatment of complex wounds with a bordered foam dressing as the primary wound dressing; (iii) were retrieved from original research; and (iv) were published between 2000 and 2022.
• There were no restrictions on language or study design.
• Studies that focused primarily on the prevention of complex wounds were excluded.
• Data extraction included outcome domains, outcomes, instruments, time points, and outcome measures.
• The OMERACT Filter 2.0 was used as a conceptual framework for the extraction of outcomes

Results

• Twenty four outcome domains and 82 outcomes were identified.
• The outcomes were categorised into five core areas: (i) impact on life; (ii) dressing performance; (iii) pathophysiological manifestations; (iv) resource use; and (v) adverse events.
• Thirty nine outcomes (47.0%) were measured at more than one time point.
• The most frequently reported time point was ‘at the end of treatment’ (62.7%).
• Outcomes were measured using self-report instruments, clinical observations, and bio-physiological instruments.

Category: Impact on life

Example of a category and associated outcome domains and outcomes

Conclusions

• The systematic review identified reported outcomes and measurement instruments in research on bordered foam dressings in the treatment of complex wounds.
• The variety and lack of consistency in terms of instruments, time points and outcome measurements made it difficult to compare data directly across different reported studies.
• A solution to the variety in outcome reporting across studies in complex wound care, and moreover for the treatment with bordered foam dressings, is the development of a Core Outcome Set (COS).
• The outcomes in this review article will inform the next steps of developing a COS, where patients, clinicians and researchers will be involved to decide on the final outcomes included in a COS for the treatment of complex wounds with bordered form dressings.

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Clinical research on the use of bordered foam dressings in the treatment of complex wounds: A systematic review of reported outcomes and applied measurement instruments

This summary has been compiled by the Global Medical Affairs & Safety Department of Mölnlycke Health Care as a service to healthcare professionals. It does not contain the complete text and Mölnlycke Health Care makes no representation as to its completeness in addressing all issues in the item to which it refers.