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Venous leg ulcers remain difficult to treat despite recent improvements in treatment modalities. This study shows that specialized leg ulcer clinics can improve outcomes and reduce costs.
Five clinics were established in a single British health authority. The clinics were run by specially trained nurses and consisted of structured patient assessment, education, and monitoring. Outcome and costs were compared with those from a control health authority both before (in 1993) and after (in 1994) the clinics were established.
From 1993 to 1994, the number of actively ulcerated limbs declined by 9% in the study region, but increased by 5% in the control region. The proportion of patients who healed completely within three months increased from 26% …