Best practices to dressing change
2
min read -
Best practices to wound care management
Step by step approach
1/ Gather all the items you will need
- Smartphone or tablet to take a picture of the wound and save the evaluation
- Camera and Photography consent form if required
- Disposable gloves / Sterile wound care dressing pack
- Disposable measuring device(s)
- Saline solution or tap water
- Clean gauze
- The primary wound treatment and secondary dressings
- The new compression system, offloading boot/shoe or other etiological treatment device if required
2/ Prepare yourself
- Explain the procedure to the patient and gain consent for the care they are about to receive
- Clean your hands
- Put on the gloves (to remove soiled dressing non sterile gloves may be permitted)
3/ The care
- Remove the previous bandage/offloading device and expose the wound
- Clean the wound with a saline solution or tap water
- With a gauze, wipe the wound and the surrounding skin
- Measure the wound dimensions (including width, depth and length at consistent points as previous measurements). Measuring Tissue appearance of the wound bed in a % also supports robust documentation
- Make sure the surrounding skin is dry. Gently wipe it or pat dry with a gauze if required
- Apply emollient to the skin if needed and allow suitable time for this to absorb
- Apply the new dressing based on the needs of the wound and the level of evidence
- Apply etiological treatment (i.e. compression or off-loading device)
DID YOU KNOW? Key questions to ask to your patient
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