Managing Wounds With Allevyn Life in a Home Health Care Environment

When elderly patients need help caring for wounds, physicians may refer patients to home health care providers. The home health provider sees the patient in the patient's home and assists the patient with wound care. Working with the patient's physician, the home health provider will use the appropriate wound covering ("dressing" or "bandage") to cover the wound. The goal of the home health provider is to ensure that the wound stays clean and progresses toward closure. The home health provider will conduct in-home patient visits at appropriate intervals to assess the status of the wound. Extensive resources are required to see patients in their own homes. If a dressing could effectively manage wounds and allow longer time between in-home visits (without affecting patient safety or progress of the wound toward closure), then resources could be saved. Thus, newer dressings are designed for longer wear times, using advanced foam pads and adhesives that help keep the dressing in place. The hypothesis of this study is that the use of Allevyn Life will decrease the number of in-home visits by home health providers without sacrificing patient safety.