Authors:

Patricia Grocott, Natasha Brown, Sarah Cowley

Background:

Woundcare Research for Appropriate Products (WRAP) is an on-going collaboration between industry, clinicians and academics led by King?s College London (KCL). The study that established the collaboration was funded for 2 years (2001-2003) by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council.

Objectives:

The objectives included the development and testing of methodologies to identify patients? and clinicians? needs with respect to wound dressings for exudate management.

Results:

These comprised: a validated clinical note-making system for the purpose of collecting observational data of dressing performance in the context of total patient care; a validated industrial in vitro test method for measuring absorbent capacity; and 3-D imaging techniques which measured skin deformation and its impact upon the fixing of dressings for leg ulcers, pressure sores and post-operative wounds.

Conclusions:

Through methodological development, WRAP has responded to the paucity of objective data on user needs and product evaluation. The methodologies can be taken forward into future studies for continuing data accrual.

Declaration of interest:

None.