Setting the surgical wound care agenda across two healthcare districts: A priority setting approach

Introduction Surgical wound care requires an interprofessional approach; however, there is considerable variation in practice and a lack of robust evidence to guide clinicians. Thus, it is important to identify priority areas from the perspectives of end-users to target efforts to both generate and implement high quality evidence. Objective To rank the top four priority questions in wound management across two health districts to inform future research and implementation efforts in wound care. Methods A multisite modified nominal group technique was used to build consensus. Two interactive two-hour workshops were held across two health services districts. Participants were recruited from nursing, allied health and medicine. In preparation for the workshops, a standard operating procedure was developed, and 25 wound care priority questions identified, a priori. Descriptive statistics were used to analyse workshop data. Results Across districts, 38 health professionals participated in the workshops. From a list of 25 clinical questions, the top 10 were determined, and from these, the top four. The number one priority question identified by 23/38 (60.5%) participants across districts related to patients’ understanding/knowledge of their wound treatment. The number two priority question 15/38 (39.5%) participants voted on focussed on patient involvement in wound care. Conclusions Overall, the priority questions reflect the need to encourage patient participation in wound care. These wound care priorities can be used to inform future research and improvement efforts in wound care.