The clinical and cost-effective debridement solution: UCS®: Unique, Convenient, Safe
Wound care represents a serious health problem throughout Europe. With a burgeoning older population and an increase in lifestyle-related conditions, such as obesity and diabetes, the care of leg ulcers, pressure ulcers and diabetic foot ulcers takes up a significant amount of practitioners’ time, (Chandan et al, 2009). For example:
- Venous Leg Ulcers (VLU) require more than 6 weeks to heal
- The VLU recurrence rate within 12 months from healing is approximately 26%-29%
- This result is a massive impact on patient quality of life and an extremely high cost of care.
Ulcer Treatment: Getting started
The first step in the wound assessment process is to ensure that the wound bed, the perilesional area and the entire limb are clean and that any dead or contaminated tissue is debrided to enable a complete clinical exam of the wound.
Wound debridement at an early and appropriate stage is likely to accelerate wound healing. (Vowden and Vowden, 2011).
In order to facilitate the wound progression, repeated removal of necrotic tissue appears to be required during the lifespan of the wound. This process is commonly referred to as “Maintenance Debridement”: a proactive way to keep the wound in a healing mode. (Falanga et al, 2008).
UCS® Debridement is a sterile, pre-moistened, single-use cloth for wound debridement and cleansing of the surrounding area. It incorporates a mild cleansing and moisturizing solution with Poloxamer, a hydrophilic surfactant. The product, without damaging healthy cells, has three specific actions, all combined in a single device:
- The solution softens necrotic tissue, slough, fibrin and exudate
- The special weave of the gauze traps all debris and biofilm
- The solution aids cleaning and hydration of the perilesional area and the rest of the limb
Effective management of patients with wounds demands a systematic, holistic approach. Focusing on the whole of the patient and not just the ‘hole’ in the patient is essential to ensure that the underlying cause of the wound is known (Hampton and Collins, 2004).
UCS® Debridement allows to implement such a holistic approach. In addition :
- It is quick, safe and cost-effective.
- it facilitates assessment and healing, reducing treatment time and, often, physical fatigue to the practitioner,
- it reduces the patients ‘stress and fear, offering him an atraumatic treatment.