This sheet answers common questions about the Prevena negative pressure pump. If you would like further information, or have any worries, please do not hesitate to ask your nurse or doctor.

In all cases, a doctor or nurse will explain the process to you and answer any questions you may have.

What is a Prevena negative pressure pump?

The Prevena pressure pump is a disposable pump which aids the healing of wounds, primarily foot wounds. The pump sucks excess fluids from the wound, keeping it dry, and enables it to heal quicker. The pump you will be given works the same way as the negative pressure pump works in hospital, but is much smaller and allows the user to be discharged from hospital earlier. Some users can get on with their daily life as normal whilst wearing it.

The pump will be applied to your wound by nurses on the day of your discharge from hospital. You will be given information on how to care for the pump at home. You will also be given information on what to do if you have any worries while at home with the pump.

How the pump works

It is important to monitor the pump whilst at home to ensure it is working properly. The Prevena pump has a battery life of 14 days. Once applied, the pump lights up. Each day, a different circle light goes off until a total of seven lights are off.

On day eight, the light starts lighting up again one day at a time until it reaches the seventh day when all seven lights are on. When the pump reaches seven lights it will be changed and discarded by the vascular team.

You will be given four appointments to come back to the hot clinic for wound review and dressing change. Your dressings will be changed every three to four days. Please ensure you keep your appointments as requested. Do not wet dressings and do not attempt to change the dressings yourself. Keep them clean and tidy when at home.

You may be given an additional cannister to take home. You will be shown how to change this should it be necessary while you are at home. Only change the cannister if you have been shown how to do this.

Please ensure to use a special shoe/boot to move around if provided and keep your foot elevated if required.

Contact your clinical nurse specialist if there are any problems or you have any concerns.

Risks and side effects

For patients who are on blood thinners, there is the possibility of bleeding from the wound. If you notice any blood in the cannister, please contact the vascular team on the phone number provided immediately. The clinical team will advise you on what to do.

If this happens out of hours, please attend your nearest A&E or dial 999 as soon as possible.

Please be mindful of the wires attached to the pump as this could cause falls.

If you should become unwell, such as experiencing a fever or chills, please inform the clinical team as soon as possible to be advised on what to do. If this out of hours, please contact your general practitioner or attend the nearest A&E.

Community follow-up

You will be given an appointment to the vascular hot clinic for dressing changes before going home. During this time the wound will be measured and photographed, and dressing changed.

You will then be invited back to the clinic for these dressing changes within four days. By your fourth dressing change, the community negative pressure pump should be ready. Your district nurses will get in touch for the application of your pump and wound monitoring.

Your feedback

We have set up a new service to support the discharge of our patients admitted to our vascular service at the Royal Free Hospital. We are interested in finding out from patients about their experience and ideas for improvement in our service.

If you a have few minutes, we would appreciate if you could help us improve our service by following the link below and completing our questionnaire. Thank you in advance.