When elderly patients need help caring for wounds, physicians may refer patients to home health care providers. The home health provider sees the patient in the patient's home and assists the patient with wound care. Working with the patient's physician, the home health provider will use the appropriate wound covering ("dressing" or "bandage") to cover the wound. The goal of the home health provider is to ensure that the wound stays clean and progresses toward closure. The home health provider will conduct in-home patient visits at appropriate intervals to assess the status of the wound. Extensive resources are required to see patients in their own homes. If a dressing could effectively manage wounds and allow longer time between in-home visits (without affecting patient safety or progress of the wound toward closure), then resources could be saved. Thus, newer dressings are designed for longer wear times, using advanced foam pads and adhesives that help keep the dressing in place. The hypothesis of this study is that the use of Allevyn Life will decrease the number of in-home visits by home health providers without sacrificing patient safety.
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Purpose
SUPPORTIVE_CARE
Masking
NONE
Foam dressing normally used by the home health agency
Unnamed facility
Tustin, California, United States
Unnamed facility
Wichita, Kansas, United States
Unnamed facility
McAllen, Texas, United States
Number of home health clinician visits in each group
Time frame: 60 days
Home health provider time on-site
Time frame: 60 days
Total cost of each treatment group
Time frame: 60 days
Number of visits required compared to number initially anticipated
Time frame: 60 days
Assess the Cardiff Wound Impact Schedule
Time frame: 60 days
Average dressing wear time
Time frame: 60 days
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