A Real-World Registry of Chronic Wounds and Ulcers
For patients and families
In plain language
An automatic summary of structured registry data. It is an orientation aid, not a substitute for the official protocol or a physician assessment.
- What is being studied
- The protocol lists: Usual care.
- Who it may be relevant to
- Registry conditions: Diabetic Foot, Pressure Ulcer, Surgical Wound Dehiscence, Vasculitis. Basic parameters: No limits · All.
- What needs checking
- Age, condition and sex are only basic indicators. Prior treatment, laboratory values and other mandatory requirements appear in the eligibility criteria below.
- Where it takes place
- United States
- Next step
- Save the trial, show it to the treating physician, and confirm current recruitment with the study center. Costs, documents and travel →
Unsure about the terms? Read our patient guide →
Official title
A Longitudinal, Real World, Observational Registry of Chronic Wounds and Ulcers and the Patients Who Have Them
Overview
WOUNDJOURNEY is a longitudinal, real-world, observational registry designed to capture the full clinical course and patient journey associated with chronic wounds and ulcers. Data are collected during routine care from over 1,400 clinicians across the USA and Puerto Rico using a highly structured certified electronic health record (EHR) or electronic data capture (EDC) system. Data are transmitted daily to the U.S. Wound Registry (USWR), a CMS-recognized Qualified Clinical Data Registry (QCDR). The registry captures real-time, research-ready data on patient demographics, comorbidities, wound characteristics, standard-of-care treatments, complications, and advanced therapeutics. It supports robust, fit-for-purpose real-world evidence generation by enabling risk-adjusted outcome analysis, comparative effectiveness research, and quality improvement across diverse sites of care.
Detailed description
WOUNDJOURNEY is a longitudinal, real-world observational registry focused on the chronic disease burden and patient journey of individuals with chronic wounds and ulcers. Data collection began in 2005 and continues prospectively, capturing structured clinical data at the point of care using a purpose-built certified EHR or EDC system. These data are securely transmitted to the U.S. Wound Registry (USWR), a CMS-designated Qualified Clinical Data Registry (QCDR).
All major wound types are represented: Diabetic foot ulcers (DFUs), diabetic ulcers not on the foot, Venous leg ulcers (VLUs), Arterial ulcers, Pressure ulcers/injuries, Surgical complications, Traumatic wounds, Vasculitic/inflammatory, and sickle cell-related ulcers, and chronic non-pressure ulcers.
The registry collects detailed data on standard-of-care practices and advanced wound care interventions, including brand-specific information on: Advanced dressings (e.g., collagen, antimicrobial), Compression therapy, Offloading devices, Cellular and/or tissue-based products (CTPs) also called Cellular, Acellular, or Matrix-like Products (CAMPs) or "skin substitutes," Negative pressure wound therapy, MIST therapy (low-frequency ultrasound), Topical oxygen therapy (TOT), Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (HBOT), Topical growth factors (e.g., Becaplermin), Enzymatic and mechanical debridement, Fluorescent imaging for bacterial load, Topical antibiotics and antimicrobials, and other treatments.
The registry captures key elements of the patient journey, including: Frequency of debridement, Sites of care, number of patient visits and number of wound visits, Dressing changes, Use and timing of advanced therapies, Comorbid disease burden and clinical complexity, Patient Frailty, number of wounds and ulcers per patient, patient time in service, wound time service, patient and wound outcomes, the development of new wounds while in service and complication rates.
Wounds are risk stratified using the Wound Healing Index, enabling case-mix adjustment and longitudinal outcome tracking. Follow-up may extend over five years, capturing outcomes such as: Complete healing (epithelialization), Non-healing, Major and minor amputations, Mortality, and Loss to follow-up or transfer of care. Quality of care is assessed using wound-specific quality measures. The registry integrates real-world clinical care with research and quality improvement, supporting a learning healthcare system model.
Through secure tokenization, registry data may be linked to payer claims for comprehensive longitudinal analysis of healthcare utilization, interventions, hospitalizations, medication use, and long-term outcomes across care settings. This enables rigorous, policy-relevant evaluations of standard care and advanced wound therapies in routine practice. The robust patient and wound level data are suitable to understand the natural history of chronic wounds and ulcers and to create historical controls for prospective clinical trials.
Interventions
- Other Usual care
advanced dressings, off-loading, venous ulcer compression, arterial screening
Primary outcome measures
- Healed [Time frame: 1 year]
- Major amputation [Time frame: 1 year]
- Minor amputation [Time frame: 1 year]
- Patient Death [Time frame: 1 year]
Secondary outcome measures (1)
- Percent surface area (PAR) reduction over time [Time frame: variable - measured at multiple intervals (e.g., 4, 12, 16, 24, and 52 weeks)]
Eligibility criteria
Inclusion criteria
- Presence of one or more chronic wounds or ulcers of any etiology
- Wound or ulcer must be treated at a participating site (which can be a hospital outpatient department, office, mobile practitioner, in the home setting, skilled nursing, etc.)
- Care must be documented using the purpose-built, wound-specific structured electronic health record (EHR) or electronic data capture (EDC) system
- All ages, including infants and patients aged 90 years or older (reported in aggregate in accordance with HIPAA de-identification standards)
- All sexes and gender identities
- All wound types and severities, including multiple wounds per patient
Exclusion criteria
-None (the registry includes all eligible patients treated at participating sites without sampling or exclusion criteria)
Criteria are shown verbatim from the registry (in English). Final eligibility is always assessed by the study center.
Healthy volunteers: No
Study design
- Observational model
- Cohort
Study locations
United States · 1 center
- US Wound Registry — The Woodlands
Publications
- Fife CE, Walker D, Thomson B, Otto G. The safety of negative pressure wound therapy using vacuum-assisted closure in diabetic foot ulcers treated in the outpatient setting. Int Wound J. 2008 Jun;5 Suppl 2(Suppl 2):17-22. doi: 10.1111/j.1742-481X.2008.00467.x. PMID 18577134
- Fife CE, Walker D, Thomson B. Electronic Health Records, Registries, and Quality Measures: What? Why? How? Adv Wound Care (New Rochelle). 2013 Dec;2(10):598-604. doi: 10.1089/wound.2013.0476. PMID 24761335
- Horn SD, Fife CE, Smout RJ, Barrett RS, Thomson B. Development of a wound healing index for patients with chronic wounds. Wound Repair Regen. 2013 Nov-Dec;21(6):823-32. doi: 10.1111/wrr.12107. Epub 2013 Oct 17. PMID 24134202
- Carter MJ, Fife CE, Walker D, Thomson B. Estimating the applicability of wound care randomized controlled trials to general wound-care populations by estimating the percentage of individuals excluded from a typical wound-care population in such trials. Adv Skin Wound Care. 2009 Jul;22(7):316-24. doi: 10.1097/01.ASW.0000305486.06358.e0. PMID 20375969
- Fife CE, Carter MJ, Walker D, Thomson B. A retrospective data analysis of antimicrobial dressing usage in 3,084 patients. Ostomy Wound Manage. 2010 Mar 1;56(3):28-42. PMID 20368672
- Fife CE, Carter MJ, Walker D. Why is it so hard to do the right thing in wound care? Wound Repair Regen. 2010 Mar-Apr;18(2):154-8. doi: 10.1111/j.1524-475X.2010.00571.x. Epub 2010 Feb 16. PMID 20163568
Identifiers
NCT: NCT02280733 · USWR 001