Unna's boot: experience of care of people with venous ulcers.

Marcelo Henrique Da Silva,Maria Cristina Pinto De Jesus,Miriam Aparecida Barbosa Merighi,Deíse Moura De Oliveira

doi:10.1590/0034-7167-2016-0219

Marcelo Henrique Da Silva, Maria Cristina Pinto De Jesus + Show 2 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1590/0034-7167-2016-0219

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Abstract

to understand the experience of care of people with venous ulcers using an Unna's boot. a qualitative study, based on the social phenomenology by Alfred Schütz, was carried out with 12 adults interviewed in 2015. The statements were analyzed and organized in thematic categories. the following categories emerged: "Unna's boot annoyance versus wound improvement", "Difficulties for accessing care with the Unna's boot", "Care for healing and preventing recurrence", and "Receiving more attention from the healthcare professional". the experience of care of people using an Unna's boot revealed the annoyance caused by this device, which was overcome due to the wound improvement. However, access to care was compromised by the lack of structure at the service, frustrating the patients' expectations regarding wound healing. The issues of these people's intersubjective universe should be considered in the management of care of venous ulcers.

Highlights

METHODChronic venous ulcers (CVU), called varicose ulcers, represent 70% of the vasculogenic ulcers, and they are estimated to affect 2% to 7% of the population worldwide, bringing, in addition to socioeconomic impact, great repercussion in the worsening of quality of life of the people who are affected by them[1].Care of CVU can be a challenge both for the people who live with them, and for the nurses who take care of them, due to their chronic and recurrent nature
There is a need to improve the care of these people, which should include the routine use of compression therapy (CT), and guidelines on basic hygiene care, feeding, rest and physical activity, aiming at healing and prevention of recurrence, and contributing to the improvement of the quality of life of people who live with this health problem[1,3]
The action in question - taking care of CVU with the use of an Unna’s boot – revealed that the people on this therapy commonly come from a context that is marked by unsuccessful treatments

Summary

Introduction

METHODChronic venous ulcers (CVU), called varicose ulcers, represent 70% of the vasculogenic ulcers, and they are estimated to affect 2% to 7% of the population worldwide, bringing, in addition to socioeconomic impact, great repercussion in the worsening of quality of life of the people who are affected by them[1].Care of CVU can be a challenge both for the people who live with them, and for the nurses who take care of them, due to their chronic and recurrent nature. A cohort study with 50 adult patients followed after CVU healing, during 10 years, showed that 62% had recurrence of the lesion It evidenced that the use of compression stockings, rest, and the application of a moisturizing cream in the lower limbs (LL) had been considered efficient measures for the prevention of these recurrences[2]. Compression therapy is the main care to be provided to this public, both to promote healing and to prevent recurrences[4] It can be performed with the use of elastic compression, represented by short- or long-stretching bands, and by compression stockings. In Brazil, Unna’s boot is the most known and used inelastic CT in clinical practice[6]

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