Chronic wound audit: evaluation of a tissue viability service.

A chronic wound audit was carried out at the Conquest Hospital, East Sussex, to establish the prevalence of chronic wounds within the Trust, in light of evaluation of the tissue viability service. At the time of audit the Trust employed two specialist nurses on a part time basis (3 days a week) with 2 days clinical work on the wards. A total of 372 patients were included in the audit, 56 patients had a total of 82 chronic wounds. These wounds were subdivided into wound types. The highest numbers of chronic wounds were pressure ulcers grade 1-4, including the new category of moisture lesions totalling 47.5%. Surgical wounds followed at 20.7%. There was a marked reduction in grade 3-4 pressure ulcers consistent with the pressure ulcer prevalence report from August 2006 that saw an overall reduction of hospital acquired pressure ulcers of 3.9%. This was attributed to the purchase of pressure relieving equipment, the development of a pressure ulcer help line and focused education on pressure ulcer prevention throughout the wards. The mean bed stay for both medical and surgical patients was 28.5 bed days but with surgical patients alone median bed stay was a staggering 45.5 days.