Research priorities for acute wounds in adults in Australia: A scoping review protocol

Background Preservation and restoration of skin integrity following surgery is paramount for optimal patient wound healing outcomes. Acute wounds such as incisional wounds, skin tears, trauma or burn injury cause pain, reduce quality of life and are a considerable economic burden to the Australian healthcare system. Despite considerable advances in surgical technique and even with a panacea of innovative novel wound dressings, our scientific and clinical understanding of wound healing prevention and management of acute wound complications continue to present a considerable challenge to clinicians and policy makers. Understanding the gaps in knowledge and identifying clinical practice deficits are key for prevention and management of acute wounds. Aims This scoping review aims to (i) map current research evidence and outcomes in acute wounds management, (ii) map current research evidence and outcomes in acute wounds prevention and (iii) determine research gaps in acute wound research relevant to Australia. Methods The framework for this scoping review will utilise the PRISMA-ScR framework developed by Tricco et al.¹. We will search the following databases – Medline, CINAHL, Embase, Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI), Cochrane Library and PubMed from January 2010 to March 2021. Trial registries (e.g. ISRCTN, ANZCTR and clinicaltrials.gov) and websites and publications of professional associations for wound care will also be searched. Two reviewers will independently screen all titles, abstracts and full text for articles to include. Conflicts will be solved by a third reviewer. This scoping review will include both qualitative and quantitative studies on acute wounds conducted in Australia. We will extract data from eligible articles and results will be grouped according to area of research and synthesised in a narrative review. Ethics and dissemination As we will use data (i.e., journal articles) from publicly available platforms this scoping review does not require ethical approval. Findings will be disseminated through a peer-reviewed journal and conference presentation and social media platforms.