Improving the safety of negative-pressure wound therapy
- Collection:
- Health Policy and Services Research
- Series Title(s):
- Pennsylvania patient safety advisory
- Contributor(s):
- Pennsylvania. Patient Safety Authority. Institute for Safe Medication Practices. ECRI (Organization)
- Publication:
- [Harrisburg, Pa.] : Pennsylvania Patient Safety Authority, c2011
- Language(s):
- English
- Format:
- Text
- Subject(s):
- Negative-Pressure Wound Therapy -- adverse effects Wound Healing Wounds and Injuries -- therapy Monitoring, Physiologic Patient Selection Risk Management -- methods Safety Humans United States
- Genre(s):
- Technical Report
- Abstract:
- Negative-pressure wound therapy (NPWT) is a noninvasive therapy that uses negative pressure to treat acute and chronic wounds. NPWT has become a widely used option for treating all types of wounds. When used safely as a component of a comprehensive wound treatment program, NPWT has been associated with the promotion of wound healing. However, while NPWT may be beneficial to patients, complications have been associated with its use. Seventy-seven patient injuries and six deaths associated with NPWT in two years prompted the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to issue an alert to healthcare providers. In 2008 and 2009, the Pennsylvania Patient Safety Authority received 419 reports related to the application or management of NPWT. Complications related to NPWT were described in 112 (27%) reports and included bleeding, evisceration of bowel, retained sponges, infection, maceration, and compromise of tissue surrounding the wound. Clinicians can endeavor to prevent patient harm associated with the use of NPWT by employing risk reduction strategies such as appropriate patient selection, proper device application, and frequent monitoring.
- Copyright:
- Reproduced with permission of the copyright holder. Further use of the material is subject to CC BY-NC-DC license. (More information)
- NLM Unique ID:
- 101555795 (See catalog record)
- Permanent Link:
- http://resource.nlm.nih.gov/101555795