Generating data on wounds is of great concern of EWMA. Therefore, EWMA is actively involved in the generating wound prevalence data. EWMA has in collaboration with among others the Eucomed AWCS group EWMA  initiated a survey on "Prevalence of wounds in general & cost impact in the two treatment settings - hospital and home care".
The survey has been conducted in the UK and in Denmark. EWMA is currently developing Wound surveys in other European countries. The final goal is  to generate a large set of European data on the prevalence of wounds. Furthermore, implementation projects are being set up in order to follow up on the evidence created in these surveys.

Aim

The survey will identify the number and type of wounds as well as treatment regimes and will provide an estimate of the amount of clinician time and inpatient bed-days directly attributable to wound care at an organisational level.
This type of information highlights the importance of specialist wound care expertise, by illustrating the high prevalence of wounds among hospital and community patients and the significant proportion of available resources which are devoted to wound complications, many of which could be avoided.
 

Methodology

Results of a wound survey have most value to both the local healthcare organisation, but the aggregated results also has a wider value. In order to promote generalisability, the project team has provide a common methodology and standard data collection instruments. LINK to ewma journal article
Participating clinicians is responsible for carrying out the survey and will have an opportunity to publish results in their own name.
The survey takes the form of a point prevalence study. In an acute hospital which is likely to take 1-2 days. In a community healthcare organisation the focus is on patients receiving treatment for a wound in one study week.
Participants are also contributing to the goal of creating evidence on the importance of good wound care across a number of European countries, and will have an opportunity to participate as co-authors on a summary publication.  

Further information

Please contact the EWMA Secretariat if you are interested in further information about the study or possible future involvement as well as conducting a wound survey in your country.