Sårläkningstid hos äldre patienter med diabetes och fotsår : fokus på omläggningsmaterial.

Sammanfattning: Diabetes is a growing public health problem that can lead to serious complications for the pa-tient such as foot ulcers and amputations. For affected patients the foot ulcers causes suffer-ing, pain and impaired health. The foot ulcers also contribute to major costs to the society and affects healthcare resources hard. A large part of the district nurse's work consists of wound care. Therefore it is important that the district nurse possess adequate knowledge of wound dressings to promote wound healing and thereby shorten the wound healing time. The aim of the study was to examine the wound healing time due to treatment with antiseptic or non-antiseptic dressings in elderly patients with diabetes and foot ulcers. The method used was a quantitative register study with a retrospective and descriptive design. Patients included in the study were 241 men and women aged ≥ 65 years with diabetes and healed foot ulcers. Men were represented by 68 % (n=164) and women by 32 % (n=77). The results showed no signif-icant difference in wound healing time due to treatment with antiseptic or non-antiseptic dressings. The most common non-antiseptic dressing used was polyurethane foam and the most common antiseptic dressing used was silver dressing. More research to compare wound healing time between non-antiseptic and antiseptic dressings in elderly patients with diabetes and foot ulcers are needed. District nurses need to increase their knowledge within different dressings and its positive and negative effects.