Page 26 - APPENDIX B: Trials Investigating the Management of Acute Radiation-Induced Skin Reactions Reading Qualitative Research

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WOUND CARE

Inclusion criteria for the literature search were: (a) the source is written in English; (b) the source

reports primary research, relevant textbooks and systematic literature review articles relevant to

this project; (c) a focus on “during radiotherapy” to determine relevant articles.

I used the following separate themes with keywords to guide the online searches and

finally combined them with the Boolean operator “AND”:

1) Intervention: Bandages* OR "Wound care products" OR Mepitel® OR "Mepilex®

Lite" OR dressings OR "Hydrocolloid dressings" OR “soft silicone” OR “wound

dressing*” OR “silicone dressings” OR “hydrogel dressings”.

2) Treatment modality/ cause: Radiotherapy* OR "Radiation Dosage*" OR "during

cancer radiotherapy" OR "radiation treatment" OR dosimetry.

3) Wounds: "Radiation dermatitis" OR "moist desquamation” OR “Skin reactions” OR

“cancerous wounds” OR “Fungating wounds” OR “Malignant wounds”.

The inclusion criteria for scholarly articles were those written in English language,

primary research or review articles related to dressings during radiation treatments and clinical

practice guidelines from the year 1995 to current. Inclusion criteria for grey or unpublished

literature are all possible relevant material in English language from conference publications and

abstracts, symposium presentation, dissertations, clinical trials, government reports, technical

reports and product reviews with a critical approach regarding any conflict of interest from the

year 2008 to current. Throughout the subsequent researching and writing of this study, I

continued to search reference lists and retrieve relevant literature.