The financial and quality-of-life cost to patients living with a chronic wound in the community

Abstract

Chronic wounds are associated with financial and personal costs. The system level expense associated with chronic wounds has been established, however, the out-of-pocket cost incurred by individuals who self-fund has not been the focus of extensive investigation. Recently, there has been renewed interest in evaluating quality of life, in line with the shift to patient enablement and self-care in chronic disease management. The objectives of this research were to describe the out-of-pocket wound treatment costs and the quality of life of people who have chronic wounds. A questionnaire incorporating the Cardiff Wound Impact Schedule and purpose-designed instruments was completed by a non-proba..