Prevalence and assessment of (infected) chronic wounds

Rondas has examined the prevalence of chronic wounds in Dutch nursing homes. More than four in hundred nursing home residents have at least one difficult-to-heal wound. Nearly half of these wounds were bedsores (decubitus). Fewer than 25% of all chronic wounds were assessed as being infected.
Rondas’ research showed that collecting wound tissue by using a cotton swab for microbiological examination (a wound swab) is a waste of time and money. Treatment in the primary health care Kenniscentrum Wondbehandeling wound expertise centre in Venray proved not only therapeutically effective (nearly two-thirds of the patients make a full recovery), but also cost effective.