Abstract
A descriptive survey of current reported practice by 146 community nurses for their nursing treatment of leg ulcers was undertaken.
Sixty-four per cent of nurses reported they would apply compression bandages to only venous ulcers; in only 23% of cases could the products described achieve an adequate level of compression.
A variety of modern wound dressings were used by the nurses; 89% of nurses reported using a combination of different products layered over the ulcer. There is no evidence that this has any beneficial effect and could therefore be a potential waste of money, as well as contributing to allergic skin reactions.
It would be useful if primary-health-care teams and Family Health Service Authority information pharmacists formulated protocols based upon effective treatments for patients with chronic leg ulcers.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 159-168 |
Journal | Journal of Clinical Nursing |
Volume | 3 |
Issue number | 3 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 1994 |