Patients' Willingness to Perform Self-Wound Care: A Cross-sectional Study in the Primary Healthcare Sector in Singapore.

Abstract

Background: Patient adherence to performing self-wound care (SWC) has a direct influence on the success of telewound care, a healthcare delivery mode that emerged in 2016 in National Healthcare Group Polyclinics in Singapore to relieve the healthcare burden. This mode of delivery was useful during the pandemic, when nonurgent face-to-face visits were switched to the use of telecommunications for consultation. Telewound care requires that patients be willing to perform wound care on their own; however, whether patients are willing to do so remains unknown.

Objective: To identify factors influencing patients' willingness to undertake SWC using a locally validated tool, the Self-Wound Care Acceptance Survey (SWCAS).

Methods: The authors recruited 328 participants with wounds from six polyclinics using convenience sampling. Participants rated the 17 items on the SWCAS using a 5-point Likert-type scale, from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree). Higher scores indicate greater willingness to perform wound self-care.

Results: Only 34.2% of the participants were willing to perform SWC. Patients who had a wound on their back and had transport provided and medical bills paid by family scored lower on the SWCAS. In contrast, patients who had higher education levels, were in the younger age group, were employed, were students, and had medical bills partially or fully paid by their company or insurance scored higher on the SWCAS. Post hoc tests indicated that patients with a wound on the back scored significantly lower on the SWCAS than did patients with wounds in other locations (Ps < .05).

Conclusions: Additional patient education is needed to increase patients' acceptance of the SWC concept. Actively promoting SWC by distributing patient education information sheets and pamphlets to eligible patients, addressing negative thoughts or concerns, and encouraging positive thinking and autonomy may encourage patients to accept this concept.