Ousey says NPWT shouldn't be excluded because a patient lives alone.

Negative pressure wound therapy may increase a patient’s quality of life in the short-term, a study has found, although researchers acknowledge further investigation is needed.  

A team led by Karen Ousey, Ph.D., RGN, FHEA, of the School of Human and Health Sciences at the University of Huddersfield in England, looked at wound care clinic patients with chronic or acute wounds and measured their quality of life by using the Cardiff Wound Impact Schedule. 

While research indicates NPWT can reduce healing time, whether it improves quality of life is a relatively new question. Ousey’s article, published in the International Wound Care Journal in August after an initial online publication in 2012, notes patients are hooked up to NPWT for 22 out of 24 hours a day. 

Researchers examined the quality of life score for patients assigned to NPWT or standard therapy who lived alone, compared to those who lived with family and friends. There was no long-term difference in patients over 12 weeks, but NPWT did boost the patients’ social life in the first two weeks.

The increase “could be because the patient felt more confident to go out with the device, as the patient felt more confident that exudate would be contained,” Ousey told McKnight’s

The study was funded by a non-restrictive educational grant from Smith & Nephew.