Health benefits of an innovative model of care for chronic wounds patients in Queensland

Evaluating the cost-effectiveness of diabetic foot ulcer management by wound care specialists in Indonesia

Diabetic foot ulcers affect quality of life and economically burden patients and the Indonesian healthcare system. The comparative cost-effectiveness of wound care specialists in private practices (e.g., wound clinics) and wound care nurses in national hospitals remains unknown. Thus, we used a decision tree to compare the cost and healing rates for patients after 12 weeks of wound care. Uncertainty was addressed using one-way and probabilistic sensitivity analyses. Among 89 participants (42 in the national hospital and 47 in the private practice), no significant differences were observed between the two groups in terms of sex, age, education level, smoking status, duration of diabetes, Wagner wound classification, glycated haemoglobin levels, neuropathy status, ankle-brachial index, baseline characteristics, quality of life, DMIST (depth, maceration, inflammation/infection, size, tissue type of the wound bed, type of wound edge, and tunnelling/undermining) score and wound location (p > 0.05). However, significant differences were observed for days from first visit/assessment until complete healing, mean quality of life (p ≤ 0.001) and wound size (p = 0.047). Wound care specialists in private practices had a significantly lower cost of 2,804,423.3 Indonesian rupiah compared to 6,483,493.4 Indonesian rupiah for wound care nurses in national hospitals. The incremental cost-effectiveness ratio was -165,723.9. Therefore, wound care specialists in private practices are more cost-effective for managing diabetic foot ulcers. Probability sensitivity analysis confirmed that 80%-90% of the scenarios were cost-effective. These findings may inform healthcare resource allocation in Indonesia. Additionally, evidence-based cost-effectiveness measures were strengthened in private practices and national hospitals.

A Bayesian Approach for Incorporating the EQ-5D Visual Analog Scale When Estimating the Health-Related Quality of Life

OBJECTIVES

The EuroQoL 3-level version of EQ-5D and 5-level version of EQ-5D questionnaires are often used to quantify health states. They include ordinal responses across 5 health dimensions (EQ-5D index) and an EQ-visual analog scale (EQ-VAS) overall health rating. We investigated the value of incorporating the EQ-VAS to update health utility estimates using a Bayesian framework.

METHODS

We created a joint bivariate normal EQ-VAS and EQ-5D index utility model and compared this to a univariate normal EQ-5D index utility model. We tested these models for 1026 Sri Lankan patients with chronic kidney disease and 94 Australian patients with wounds. We validated our approach by simulating EQ-VAS and EQ-5D index responses and applying our Bayesian model and then comparing the modeled estimates to our observed data.

RESULTS

The combined model showed a reduction in estimate uncertainty for all respondents. Compared with the EQ-5D index-only model, the mean utility for Sri Lankan respondents dropped from 0.556 (0.534-0.579) to 0.540 (0.521-0.559) in men and increased from 0.489 (0.461-0.518) to 0.528 (0.506-0.550) in women, with reduced credible interval width by 13% and 23%, respectively. The mean utility in Australian respondents moved from 0.715 (0.633-0.800) to 0.716 (0.652-0.782) in men, and 0.652 (0.581-0.723) to 0.652 (0.593-0.711) in women, with reduced credible interval width by 23% and 17%, respectively. The credible interval width for simulated data also narrowed, ranging from 8.3 to 8.5%.

CONCLUSIONS

Including the EQ-VAS through Bayesian methods can add value by reducing requisite sample sizes and decision uncertainty using small amounts of additional data that is often collected but rarely used.

Evidence for person-centred care in chronic wound care: A systematic review and recommendations for practice

BACKGROUND

Chronic wounds affect an estimated 2.21 per 1000 population. They are a significant source of morbidity and affect individuals physically, psychologically, socially and financially. Person-centered care is one approach to improve patient outcomes in wound care as it values patients' perspectives, beliefs and autonomy and considers the person as a whole within the cultural context in which care is provided.

AIM

We aimed to review the evidence on the use of person-centered care (PCC) in chronic wound care management and provide recommendations for practice and future research.

METHOD

Using a systematic review methodology, we searched six databases for full-text papers from 2009-2019 published in peer-reviewed journals with no limits on language.

RESULTS

Eighteen articles on studies involving 3149 patients from nine countries were identified. Studies were conducted under three broad intervention categories: healthcare professional education (n=1); patient education (n=14) and telemedicine (n=3). Studies were equally focused on prevention and treatment of chronic wounds. Significant improvements were reported in patient knowledge, pain and self-care behaviours. Only two studies evaluated the impact on wound healing and one study estimated the cost of implementing person-centered care.

CONCLUSIONS

The evidence base to support PCC in wound management is developing and based on our review has shown improved outcomes in areas of pressure ulcer prevention, patient satisfaction, patient knowledge and quality of life, but clinical outcomes such as wound healing were less well explored. Further research with more objective outcome measures are required.

Cost-effectiveness analysis of an innovative model of care for chronic wounds patients

Current provision of services for the care of chronic wounds in Australia is disjointed and costly. There is large variability in the way that services are provided, and little evidence regarding the cost-effectiveness of a specialist model of care for treatment and management. A decision-analytic model to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of a specialist wound care clinic as compared to usual care for chronic wounds is presented. We use retrospective and prospective data from a cohort of patients as well as information from administrative databases and published literature. Our results show specialist wound clinics are cost-effective for the management of chronic wounds. On average, specialist clinics were $3,947 cheaper than usual clinics and resulted in a quality adjusted life year gain of 0.04 per patient, per year. Specialist clinics were the best option under multiple scenarios including a different cost perspective and when the cost of a hospital admission was reduced. Current models of care are inefficient and represent low value care, and specialist wound clinics represent a good investment compared to current approaches for the management of chronic wounds in Australia.

Health benefits of an innovative model of care for chronic wounds patients in Queensland

Wound management in Australia suffers from a lack of adequate coordination and communication between sectors that impacts patient outcomes and costs. Wound Innovations is a specialist service comprising of a transdisciplinary team that aims to streamline and improve patient care and outcomes. We compared patient experiences and outcomes prior to accessing this specialist service, and the 3 months following their enrolment at the clinic. Information on patient experiences, wound history, and outcomes was collected through interviews and a review of medical records for the 12 months prior to enrolment at the clinic. Wound progress, quality of life (QoL) outcomes, and service use were tracked during the 3-month prospective phase. A sample of 29 participants was recruited. 40% healed completely by 3 months, with the average time to healing being 8 weeks. The average QoL score at baseline was 0.69 (from a score of 1, being best health imaginable). At 3 months, the average QoL score increased significantly to 0.84 (P ≤0.001). On average, participants attended the clinic 4.6 times. The average decrease in wound size was 85.4% (95% CI [75.7%, 95%]). Accessing wound care treatment at a specialist, multidisciplinary wound clinic leads to an increase in QoL and access to consistent evidence-based practices.