Chronic leg ulceration in the community: changing the focus

Compression therapy is considered the gold standard for healing chronic venous leg ulceration, and impressive healing rates are achievable for many patients. Unfortunately, this condition is chronic, characterized by frequent recurrences and, for some patients, ulcer healing may never occur. Within community services, commissioners of nursing services tend to focus on complete ulcer healing within a defined timescale as quality indicators. The challenge, therefore, will be for community nurses to demonstrate alternative but equally effective patient-centred outcome measures for nursing interventions when healing is delayed or does not occur. The current government health policy encourages active patient involvement in treatment, with an emphasis on self-care/management for patients with chronic conditions. Self-management interventions, such as the Expert Patient Programme (Department of Health, 2001) for chronic conditions, have been positively evaluated and have demonstrated considerable benefits for patients in terms of pain reduction and improved psychosocial wellbeing. This article briefly discusses the outcomes of such interventions and suggests that nurse-led self-care programmes could be adapted for leg ulcer patients in order to provide alternative outcome measures for nursing interventions when ulcer healing may not be achievable. This article also gives an overview of current innovations developed to encourage patient involvement and self-care in this client group.