As wound care clinicians, we need to take into consideration many different factors in deciding on a treatment plan for our wound patients. Our patients should be evaluated on an individual basis. If we look at our patient’s socioeconomic status, we will find it varies from patient to patient. Socioeconomic status clearly affects morbidity and mortality rates related to wounds: wound management tends to be lower in quality and follow-up visits tend to be fewer in number when compared with patients with better economic status.
Socioeconomic Factors Affecting Wound Management
Socioeconomic factors can be big stressors for patients. Patients want their wounds to heal but feel helpless. We, as compassionate health care clinicians, feel the frustration for our patients. Patients miss follow-up appointments because they lack gas money, access to transportation, or caregiver support to assist with transportation. What can we do to help? There are some hospitals throughout the country that have free shuttle services to and from the wound center. This helps relieve the burden for the patient and provides more consistent wound management. Most recently, there are companies that are similar to Uber, but for health care needs. The following list provides examples of barriers to wound management … read more