Education for Venous Leg Ulcer Patients (legulcer)

April 2, 2019 updated by: Sebastian Probst, School of Health Sciences Geneva

A Targeted Interprofessional Education Intervention to Address Therapeutic Adherence of Venous Leg Ulcer Persons (TIEIVLU): Study Protocol for a Randomized Controlled Trail

Venous leg ulcers (VLU) are slow healing wounds. They have a high recurrence rate and are associated with pain, infection, smell and exudate. 60% of VLU become chronic. Current therapeutic approaches are multifaceted and focus on improving wound healing and preventing recurrences. As those approaches include compression therapy, leg elevation, specific exercises for the foot/ ankle region and a protein rich diet/ nutrition plan a multidisciplinary team of health care professionals such as nursing, physiotherapy, occupational therapy and nutrition specialists. Most persons with VLU have a knowledge deficit in regards to therapeutic measures and hence have difficulties with adherence to treatment protocols/ management plans. It is of utmost importance, and best practice, that the treatment team provides effective patient education and support during the learning phase.

However, there is little evidence and no published studies that describe and evaluate effective multidisciplinary educational interventions that target compliance/ adherence to the treatment plan in patients with VLU. Therefore the investigators propose to develop an evidence-based interprofessional educational intervention and evaluate its feasibility first in a pilot study and subsequently in a randomized controlled trail.

Method/Design: Firstly, the development of an evidence based education intervention in collaboration with an expert panel and secondly a randomized controlled pilot study in one wound care outpatient clinic is proposed. Data will be analyzed using SPSS version 23. Univariate and bivariate analysis will be conducted according to the data level and distribution of the data.

Discussion: The TIEIVLU will firstly develop an evidenced based educational intervention and secondly examine the feasibility of implementing this education intervention in a realistic care context in patients with VLU. The results will inform the final design of a following RCT which will examine the effectiveness of the educational intervention. An intervention that enhances patient adherence to therapy and hence reduces the negative outcomes of VLU would be beneficial to individual patients as well as society as a whole.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

Background: Venous leg ulcers (VLU) are slow healing wounds. They have a high recurrence rate and are associated with pain, infection, smell and exudate. 60% of VLU become chronic. The signs and symptoms of VLU are not only a burden on those who are affected by it but also on the health care system and society in general. While the prevalence of VLU in the general population is 1%, it rises to 3% in the over 80 age group. The cost of treatment and care for VLU is estimated to be 2 to 3% of the overall health expenditure. Current therapeutic approaches are multifaceted and focus on improving wound healing and preventing recurrences. As those approaches include compression therapy, leg elevation, specific exercises for the foot/ ankle region and a protein rich diet/ nutrition plan a multidisciplinary team of health care professionals such as nursing, physiotherapy, occupational therapy and nutrition specialists. Most person with VLU have a knowledge deficit in regards to therapeutic measures and hence have difficulties with adherence to treatment protocols/ management plans. It is of utmost importance, and best practice, that the treatment team provides effective patient education and support during the learning phase.

However, there is little evidence and no published studies that describe and evaluate effective multidisciplinary educational interventions that target compliance/ adherence to the treatment plan in patients with VLU. Therefore the investigators propose to develop an evidence-based interprofessional educational intervention and evaluate its feasibility first in a pilot study and subsequently in a randomized controlled trail.

Method/Design: Firstly, the development of an evidence based education intervention in collaboration with an expert panel and secondly a randomized controlled pilot study in one wound care outpatient clinic is proposed. Data will be analyzed using SPSS version 23. Univariate and bivariate analysis will be conducted according to the data level and distribution of the data.

Discussion: The TIEIVLU will firstly develop an evidenced based educational intervention and secondly examine the feasibility of implementing this education intervention in a realistic care context in patients with VLU. The results will inform the final design of a following RCT which will examine the effectiveness of the educational intervention. An intervention that enhances patient adherence to therapy and hence reduces the negative outcomes of VLU would be beneficial to individual patients as well as society as a whole.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

13

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • Switzerland
    • GE
      • Onex, GE, Switzerland, 1213
        • Cité Génération Maison de santé

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

14 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • An existing open venous leg ulcer
  • An ankle brachial pressure index (ABPI) between 0.8 and 1.3
  • Age over 18 years
  • Proficiency in the French language

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Valid informed consent is not or cannot be given

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Prevention
  • Allocation: N/A
  • Interventional Model: Single Group Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Other: Contol
"Usual care" for patients in the CG is defined as follows: Visits to the outpatient wound-care centre as directed by a physician. Wound care performed by the wound expert according to the hospital's own standards. This standard corresponds to the one from the EWMA.
Other: Education
"Usual care" as described for the CG also applies to the IG. The intervention will consist of giving patients an opportunity to learn about the use of compression bandages, wearing and putting on compression stockings, physical activity, good skin care, and a high-protein, vitamin-rich diet. This group will be supervised by a study nurse, who will not be identical with the nurse in charge of the control group.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
acceptability of an interprofessional education for venous leg ulcer patients
Time Frame: 3 months
acceptability of this elaborated interprofessional education
3 months

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

School of Health Sciences Geneva

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

May 1, 2018

Primary Completion (Actual)

October 31, 2018

Study Completion (Actual)

December 31, 2018

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

February 7, 2018

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

March 5, 2018

First Posted (Actual)

March 6, 2018

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

April 4, 2019

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

April 2, 2019

Last Verified

April 1, 2019

More Information

Terms related to this study

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • leg_ulcer_intervention

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

No

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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