ArticleBMJ open2022
Cohort study of diagnostic delay in the clinical pathway of patients with chronic wounds in the primary care setting.
Article in BMJ open, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 11 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
11 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 22 citations in OpenAlex.
- Prevalence and incidence of venous leg ulcers-A systematic review and meta-analysis.International wound journal · 2023Pooled it
- Patient safety in wound care: experiences of healthcare professionals in home healthcare settings.International journal of qualitative studies on health and well-being · 2026Article
- Subclinical inflammation and early pathogenesis of rheumatic diseases: mechanistic insights relevant to primary care.Irish journal of medical science · 2026Review
- Patient Safety in Ulcer Management: Healthcare Professionals' Experiences of Systemic Challenges Across Primary and Secondary Healthcare Settings.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Patient-Perceived Barriers to Early Help-Seeking, Diagnosis, and Surgical Treatment for Rural Patients with Venous Leg Ulcers: A Qualitative Study.International journal of general medicine · 2026Article
- Referencing Criteria for Specialised Consultation in Complex Wound Care.Nursing reports (Pavia, Italy) · 2025Article
- Exploring Self-Perceived Competence and Challenges in Wound Management Among Primary Healthcare Physicians-A Survey Study.International wound journal · 2025Article
- The Impact of Diagnostic Delay on Wound Healing-A Cohort Study in a Primary Care Setting.International wound journal · 2025Article
- Out of the Darkness and Into the Light: Confronting the Global Challenges in Wound Education.International wound journal · 2025Article
- Research hotspots and trends in nursing for diabetic foot ulcers: A bibliometric analysis from 2013 to 2023.Heliyon · 2024Review
- Psychosocial markers of pre-hospital delay in patients with diabetic foot: A cross-sectional survey.Nursing open · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectivesExact wound diagnosis is essential for successful wound management and a holistic care of the patient suffering from a wound. Wound management has been traditionally seen as a nursing area, but this can lead to considerable delays in wound diagnostics. A diagnostic delay has been recognised as an element of diagnostic error, which, in turn, affects patient safety. The aim of this cohort study was to examine diagnostic delays of chronic wound within primary care.
settingA specialised diagnostic unit, a wound care team, was established in the primary healthcare with the objective of reducing diagnostic and treatment delays in primary care.
participantsThe data consists of 197 consecutive patients attending their first appointment with the wound care team in 2016. The collected data included basic demographics, information about the clinical pathway, including doctor's appointments in primary and specialised care, as well as the International Classification of Diseases 10th Revision (ICD-10) diagnostic codes. PRIMARY AND SECONDARY OUTCOME MEASURES: The diagnostic delays were calculated in days and divided into three groups: (1) patient-related delay, (2) diagnostic delay and (3) organisational delay.
resultsThe median duration of a patient-related delay was 2 days (IQR 0-14), whereas a physician's first evaluation was performed at a median of 8 (1-32) days from wound appearance and the correct diagnosis by the wound care team was established in a median of 57 (33-100) days. The organisational delay from first contact to diagnosis was a median of 41 (22-80) days. Only one in three patients had a diagnostic delay of less than 4 weeks.
conclusionsAccording to this study, the diagnostic delay occurs within primary care, as an organisational delay from first contact to correct diagnosis. It is possible to arrange an optimal pathway of care in which a holistic wound care process starts within primary care.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.