Wound care practitioners are no doubt aware that the incidence of MRSA infected wounds in the community is increasing, resulting in new challenges in wound management. A study that appeared in the Journal of Wound Care (February, 2014) describes a new approach to the treatment of wounds infected with MRSA using a dressing derived from…
Negative pressure wound therapy (NPWT) is becoming more and more common in clinical practice as the body of evidence supporting its use grows. The KCI wound vac is perhaps the best known of the NPWT devices currently available for commercial use. What exactly does NPWT do, how does it work and who can benefit most…
It may seem to you that fast wound healing is a myth on par with the Easter Bunny- everyone has heard of it but no one has actually seen it! This is understandable if you have been bogged down in chronic wounds that take forever to heal, frustrating both you and your client. Circumstances for…
I think anyone who deals with patients with wounds will agree that selecting the right wound dressings and bandages is crucial to wound healing. It may also be the most challenging part of wound management! With so many choices in wound dressings and bandages, it’s easy to become confused. To simplify matters, there are a…
These days, many patients are discharged prematurely from the hospital. Home care nurses and community health workers may be overwhelmed caring for patients with complicated wounds for home wound care. Patients who have less complicated wounds are often discharged home to care for their own wounds with little instruction as to how they can facilitate wound…
Diabetic wounds are different from any other wounds. Diabetic wound care requires specialized training due to the propensity for diabetic wounds to heal slowly and take a turn for the worse very quickly. Clinicians working in diabetic wound care must have the necessary knowledge to recognize complications and intervene appropriately. The consequences of poorly managed…
Creating a wound care plan for you and your patient can help you to set goals and measure the progress of the wound care you provide. It can also help you to decide when you change your treatment plan if the goals you have set are not being achieved. Of course, a wound care plan…
Wound care is a collaborative effort between you and your patient. There are numerous wound management guidelines that favor both the clinician and the patient. Top 5 Wound Management Guidelines Wound Cleansing At one time, wounds were cleansed or irrigated with solutions that later proved to be toxic to healthy cells. Most experts now recommend…
Do you remember what you were taught about wound care in nursing school? Many of you may vaguely recall a lecture about the skin as an organ system, the layers of the skin and the function in regulating temperature and protecting us from infection. As far as wound care itself, I remember learning about clean…
Wound care is one of the most rapidly changing and dynamic areas of medicine. New products and techniques are emerging all the time, and it is important for the wound care practitioner to keep up to date with advances in wound care in order to be able to continue to offer best current practice. It…
