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Structure and characteristics of community‐based multidisciplinary wound care teams in O ntario: An environmental scan
Author(s) -
Abrahamyan Lusine,
Wong Josephine,
Pham Ba',
Trubiani Gina,
Carcone Steven,
Mitsakakis Nicholas,
Rosen Laura,
Rac Valeria E.,
Krahn Murray
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
wound repair and regeneration
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.847
H-Index - 109
eISSN - 1524-475X
pISSN - 1067-1927
DOI - 10.1111/wrr.12241
Subject(s) - multidisciplinary approach , multidisciplinary team , wound care , medicine , service (business) , health care , nursing , family medicine , intensive care medicine , business , social science , marketing , sociology , economics , economic growth
Multidisciplinary team approach is an essential component of evidence‐based wound management in the community. The objective of this study was to identify and describe community‐based multidisciplinary wound care teams in O ntario. For the study, a working definition of a multidisciplinary wound care team was developed, and a two‐phase field evaluation was conducted. In phase I , a systematic survey with three search strategies (environmental scan) was conducted to identify all multidisciplinary wound care teams in O ntario. In phase II , the team leads were surveyed about the service models of the teams. We identified 49 wound care teams in O ntario. The highest ratio of O ntario seniors to wound team within each Ontario health planning region was 82,358:1; the lowest ratio was 14,151:1. Forty‐four teams (90%) participated in the survey. The majority of teams existed for at least 5 years, were established as hospital outpatient clinics, and served patients with chronic wounds. Teams were heterogeneous in on‐site capacity of specialized diagnostic testing and wound treatment, team size, and patient volume. Seventy‐seven percent of teams had members from three or more disciplines. Several teams lacked essential disciplines. More research is needed to identify optimal service models leading to improved patient outcomes.