The Point Prevalence and Cost of Wound Management in a Nigerian Teaching Hospital

Abstract

Background: Chronic wounds as a cause of patient morbidity represent a major health burden and drains on resources. There is paucity of information on the actual cost of wound management in Nigeria. Studies have calculated the cost of wounds to the NHS in United Kingdom to be about £1bn a year. Objective: This study was conducted to provide data on the point prevalence of wounds in a Nigeria Teaching Hospital, the aetiology and the cost implication of managing the wound.
Methods: The study was carried out on a Sunday morning to minimize disruption to patient care. Data on all in patients with chronic wounds were documented in a designed proforma. Results: Two-hundred and six patients were on admission on the day of study out of which sixty-five patients (31.55%) were being managed for one type of wound or the other. There were thirty-six males and twenty-nine females with a male to female ratio of 1.1:1. Twenty-four patients (36.9%) had surgical wounds of different aetiology which seventeen patients (26.2%) were being managed for traumatic ulcer. Twenty-nine patients (44.6%) spent between one hundred Naira to five hundred Naira on wound dressing per week. The costs of care of these patients were being settled by their relation in fifty-one patients (78.5%). Conclusion: Wound management is a significant clinical and economic problem. The cost to the health system can be very significant, this is particularly so in a developing country like Nigeria. Our study showed that majority of our patients are petty traders and the cost of wound care was borne mainly by their relatives. The money being spent in a week on wound dressing alone is a bit high for an average Nigerian.

Key words: point prevalence, wound, cost, hospital.