Patients' experiences of healing a venous ulcer were described as “forever healing” which affected their activities and treatment
Question How do patients experience life with a venous leg ulcer (a leg ulcer caused by chronic venous insufficiency)?
Design
Phenomenology.
Setting
An ambulatory surgical clinic in an urban teaching hospital.
Patients
37 of 54 patients, whose venous ulcer dressings were changed weekly by clinic nurses, agreed to participate in the study. Patients were usually treated using an Unna's boot.
Methods
Data were collected for 1 year and included weekly measurements of wound size using acetate tracings; activity and pain logs kept by 12 patients; medical chart reviews for concomitant conditions, previous ulcers, and related emergency department and hospital admissions; and weekly participant observation sessions with patients to follow the course of healing over time. 7 patients were interviewed using open ended questions about their experience of venous ulcers. Interviews and field notes were analysed for themes using van Manen's approach to phenomenological analysis. Themes were then collapsed into …
