By Jaclyn Mackey on Tuesday, 28 January 2014
Category: Wound Care

Wound Dressing Selection

Question: Patients present to the wound care practitioner in a myriad of ways, how does the practitioner decide how to manage the wound?

Answer: For the clinician today, the job of selecting a dressing can be daunting. The first step in wound dressing selection is to apply the four basic goals of wound healing.

  1. The first goal is to maintain a moist healing environment. Moist wound healing promotes epithelialization, enhances autolytic debridement, prevents wound desiccation, and decreases pain.
  2. The second goal is to remove eschar and debris from the wound bed. This will decrease bioburden, improve epithelialization, and decrease inflammation.
  3. The third goal is to control exudate. Increased exudate can cause periwound maceration and contributes to an increased bioburden in the wound.
  4. The fourth goal is to prevent further wounding. Patients may unknowingly traumatize their wounds due to neuropathy, or a dressing or product may be chosen that actually traumatizes the wound or surrounding skin.

If we take the 4 principles of dressing selection and expand upon Ovington’s methodology, the practice of dressing selection using goals, form, and function, we will have a systematic way to select the proper dressings. A nursing assessment of the wound, patient, and setting must occur prior to selecting the dressing. It is essential that the dressing match the patient, the wound, and the setting in order to obtain the optimal result.

Ovington gives an all-purpose performance-based approach to using wound dressings by asking six basic assessment questions when deciding on a wound dressing:

Cost effectiveness of the product will need to be considered during the selection process. This means understanding indirect costs as well as the direct cost involved in wound care. Direct cost examples include, but are not limited to the primary and secondary dressings, pharmacy, caregiver time, and diagnostic procedures. Indirect costs are similar to overhead costs, and include examples such as increased length of stay, treatment complications, and litigation. The clinician should read published studies critically to take cost-per-unit outcome into account to determine if treatment measures are indeed cost effective. Sometimes the most expensive product can be less expensive in the long run because it leads to faster healing with a reduced amount of complications.

Reference: Larson-Lohr V, Norvell H, Josefsen L, Wilcox J et al. Hyperbaric Nursing and Wound Care. Flagstaff, AZ: Best Publishing Company: 2010. 

MORE INFORMATION

Textbook of Chronic Wound Care
   

Wound Care Certification Prep Course and Refresher Training 25.5 hour hydrid CME/CEU course (live + online)

   

Introduction to Major Dressing Classifications (online credit course)
   

Wound Care(Study Guide Course) Wound Care Certification Study Guide Review (15.0 online CME/CEU credit course)

   

Wound Care Assessment and Clasification (online credit course)

Related Posts

Leave Comments