Health-care professionals' views of the effectiveness of pressure ulcer treatments. A survey among nursing-home physicians, dermatologists and nursing staff in The Netherlands

Abstract

In a survey, 237 nursing-home physicians, 113 dermatologists, and 164 supervisory nurses in nursing homes rated 30 treatments for stage III pressure ulcers by scoring their effectiveness. On average, there seems to be a fair degree of consensus between these groups of health-care workers about the effectiveness of most treatments. The most notable exceptions are ultraviolet light, ultrasound, and laser therapy and myocutaneous flap operations. Here, the dermatologists disagree with both nursing-home physicians and nurses. However, within all specialties there is disagreement about the efficacy of ultraviolet light, ultrasound, and laser therapy and the topical application of zinc oxide, betadine iodine, sodium hypochlorite and a few others.