Palliative wound treatment promotes healing in hospice

Abstract

Introduction: Wounds are a major problem at the end of life, affecting nearly one third of hospice patients. The main problems with these wounds are pain, infection and odor, making wound care often difficult.

Method: A method of wound treatment invented in 2001 for palliative wound care was designed to meet the goals of pain relief, odor control, and prevention of infection. This method, which involved application of viscous lidocaine and topical polymyxin/bacitracin to gauze, was used on hundreds of hospice patients. A retrospective review of results was undertaken.

Results: A descriptive retrospective observational review is presented here. This is a retrospective review of 323 wounds in hospice patients treated over a period of 30 months using the palliative wound treatment method. In this cohort over 40% of pressure ulcers healed to closure or were healing, 30% of ischemic ulcers were healed to closure or were healing and over 40% of neuropathic ulcers were healing, totaling nearly 40% of all wounds healing or healed to closure.

Conclusion: While meeting palliative goals of reducing pain, preventing infection and controlling odor, use of this method also provided unexpected healing. Further investigation on use of this method is warranted.