If you decide you would like to be involved in the research study you will be asked to sign a consent form. Even if you decide to take part now, you are free to withdraw at any time and this will not affect the standard of care you receive.

All major trauma patients with a broken leg are followed up carefully to make sure that their break is healing and that there is no sign of infection. This will be the same for the patients involved in this research study. The only additional commitment we would ask of you would be to fill out a questionnaire on three occasions during your immediate recovery period.

After signing the consent form, we will ask you to fill out the first questionnaire. The questionnaire will ask you about how well you were able to perform certain day-to-day tasks and how you were feeling before your injury occurred. The questionnaire will take approximately 10 minutes to complete.

After discharge from the hospital, your surgeon will arrange to see you at regular intervals for routine clinical check-ups including x-rays if deemed necessary. All of the patients in the study will be invited back to their hospital for a routine x-ray approximately 6 months after their injury. Photographs of the wound will be taken at your 4-6 weeks post-operation follow-up for research purposes.

The research team will ask you to fill out a questionnaire at 3 months and 6 months after your operation. The questions will be very similar to those asked at the start of the study. The questionnaire will either be given to you when you visit the hospital for a routine check-up visit or it will be sent to you directly. If we send it out in the post, we will provide you with a stamped-addressed envelope to send it back to us once you have filled it out.

After the six month questionnaire, we will only contact you once a year with a very brief questionnaire as we are very interested in how the major trauma has affected you in the long term.

What are the possible disadvantages and risks of taking part?

There are no specific risks of having one type of wound dressing or the other. The risks of the injury and the surgery are the same for both groups of patients in the study, and are the same as for patients who are not taking part in the study.

Read more in our Patient Information Sheet.

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