When to get specialist help?
1
min read -
Best practices to wound care management
International guidelines recommend that specialist help should be sought in the following situations⁽¹⁾⁽²⁾
• Wound, such as leg ulcers, of unknown cause—uncertainty always requires further investigation before appropriate treatment can be implemented
• Patients with complex comorbidity, such as diabetes, renal failure and rheumatoid arthritis, should be monitored by an appropriately trained specialist
• Wounds that are static or have not responded to four weeks of standard treatment should be referred to an appropriately trained specialist
• A rapid deterioration in a wound is most likely to be due to ischemia or infection. These wounds should be immediately referred to a specialist.
DID YOU KNOW?
Top tips to help health professionals optimise communication with each other to improve patient care:
- When referring a patient to another health professional, use specific referral criteria to ensure the patient benefits from a multidisciplinary team approach.
- Prefer face-to-face meetings or tele-medicine to written communication.
Related articles