New Patient Survey Shows that Wound Dressings with Safetac Soft Silicone Adhesive Technology Reduce Pain at Dressing Changes
PRESS RELEASE
Norcross, GA - A report of a large multi-national survey, published March 10, 2008 in the Wounds UK journal, shows clinically significant patient benefits of specific advanced wound dressings. The results show that the use of dressings with Safetac soft silicone adhesive technology resulted in reduced pain at dressing changes compared with advanced dressings with traditional adhesives. The Pain on Removal Cases (PORC) survey involved over three thousand patients with a variety of wounds from 20 countries. More than 90 percent of the patients indicated that they preferred dressings with Safetac technology to their previous dressing regimen.
Pain is a major factor affecting quality of life and overall health for the large group of patients who suffer from chronic wounds. The highest levels of pain are often experienced at dressing changes. The use of inappropriate and sometimes aggressive adhesives on dressings can cause trauma to the healing wound bed and the skin around the wound. As a consequence of this trauma, dressing removal can be very painful. This is a major concern for both patients and healthcare personnel.
“In recent years, wound pain management has been more in focus. There is a clear need for minimising pain at dressing change,” said Dr. Richard White, Professor of Tissue Viability at the University of Worcester in UK. “The PORC survey illustrates the benefits of using dressings with Safetac technology in terms of reducing pain.”
The survey was conducted in order to assess patients’ pain experience when using different advanced dressings with traditional adhesives compared with advanced dressings with Safetac soft silicone adhesive technology. It involved both trauma and pain assessment at dressing changes. The patients were initially treated with a traditional adhesive dressing (a polyurethane, an acrylic or a hydrocolloid-based adhesive).
At the first visit, the severity of trauma to the wound and surrounding skin was assessed. In addition, the patients were asked to record their pain level (before, during and after dressing removal) by using a Visual Analogue Scale, (VAS), ranging from 0 (no pain) to 10 (unbearable pain).
At the second dressing change visit, Mepilex dressings with the Safetac technology were applied to the wounds, and the same assessment process was repeated.
The survey reveals a reduction in the levels of pain associated with dressings with the Safetac technology when compared to advanced dressings with traditional adhesives.
“Pain can lead to increased stress in patients and has been implicated in a delayed healing process,” said Richard White. “Hopefully the results of this preliminary survey will contribute to increase awareness among healthcare providers of the importance of recognising and managing patients’ pain during wound dressing related procedures.”
Molnlycke Health Care funded the study and Intermetra Business and Market Research Group performed data analysis.
ABOUT SAFETAC TECHNOLOGY
Safetac is a patented soft silicone adhesive technology designed for wound dressings. The soft silicone layer is extremely soft and adheres gently to the surrounding skin. Dressings with Safetac technology are easily removed without causing trauma either to the wound or to the surrounding skin. This leads to an undisturbed wound healing and to minimised pain for the patient.
ABOUT MÖLNLYCKE HEALTH CARE
Mölnlycke Health Care is a world leading manufacturer of single-use surgical and wound care products and services for the professional health care sector.
The Surgical Division offers peace of mind in the perioperative environment by providing a range of outstanding products such as drapes, sets and staff clothing, surgical powder free gloves, skin antiseptics and customised procedure trays, along with various services. The brand names are BARRIER®, Biogel®, HibiAntisepticsTM and ProcedurePak®.
The Wound Care division offers gentle and effective wound healing and provides a range of unique products based on the patented soft silicone technology, Safetac®: e.g. Mepilex® wound dressings and Mepitel®, together with surgical, absorbent and fixation dressings, e.g. Mepore®. The assortment also has supplementary portfolios in compression, dermatology and orthopedics, as well as a product for hard-to-heal wounds, Xelma®, extracellular matrix protein. Mölnlycke Health Care started operations as an independent company in 1998 and was acquired from Apax Partners by Investor in January 2007. The company has about 5500 employees and manufacturing plants in Belgium, the Czech Republic, Finland, Malaysia, Thailand and the U.K.
Mölnlycke Health Care is headquartered in Gothenburg, Sweden. For more information, please visit www.molnlycke.com.