Ulcer healing time and antibiotic treatment before and after the introduction of the Registry of Ulcer Treatment: an improvement project in a national quality registry in Sweden

OBJECTIVES To investigate changes in ulcer healing time and antibiotic treatment in Sweden following the introduction of the Registry of Ulcer Treatment (RUT), a national quality registry, in 2009. DESIGN A statistical analysis of RUT data concerning the healing time and antibiotic treatment for patients with hard-to-heal ulcers in Sweden between 2009 and 2012. SETTING RUT is a national web-based quality registry used to capture areas of improvement in ulcer care and to structure wound management by registering patients with hard-to-heal leg, foot and pressure ulcers. Registration includes variables such as gender, age, diagnosis, healing time, antibiotic treatment, and ulcer duration and size. POPULATION Every patient with a hard-to-heal ulcer registered with RUT between 2009 and 2012 (n=1417) was included. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Statistical analyses were performed using Stata V.12.1. Healing time was assessed with the Kaplan-Meier analysis and adjustment was made for ulcer size. A log-rank test was used for equality of survivor functions. RESULTS According to the adjusted registry in December 2012, patients' median age was 80 years (mean 77.5 years, range 11-103 years). The median healing time for all ulcers, adjusted for ulcer size, was 146 days (21 weeks) in 2009 and 63 days (9 weeks) in 2012 (p=0.001). Considering all years between 2009 and 2012, antibiotic treatment for patients with hard-to-heal ulcers was reduced from 71% before registration to 29% after registration of ulcer healing (p=0.001). CONCLUSIONS Healing time and antibiotic treatment decreased significantly during 3 years after launch of RUT.