Knowledge and attitudes regarding care of leg ulcers. Survey of family physicians.

OBJECTIVE To determine family physicians' perceptions of and attitudes toward leg ulcer care and awareness of effective treatments for venous leg ulcers.

DESIGN Self-administered, cross-sectional faxed and mailed survey.

SETTING Ottawa-Carleton, Ont.

PARTICIPANTS All physicians in the region who were members of the College of Family Physicians of Canada.

RESULTS Response rate was 62%. During 1 month, 107 physicians reported having 226 patients with leg ulcers; only a few patients had had ultrasound assessment. Few physicians (16%) were confident about managing leg ulcers; 61% reported not knowing enough about wound-care products. More than 50% were unaware that compression is effective treatment for venous ulcers. Problems reported were lack of evidence-based clinical practice guidelines for leg ulcer care (82%); absence of evidence-based protocols in home-care agencies (72%); lack of access to wound-care products (69%) and wound-care centres (66%); and poor communication among health care workers (60%).

CONCLUSION Better access to diagnostic assessments and use of compression therapy for venous leg ulcers would improve care.