The Best Way to Care for Wounds

873 Words2 Pages

One of the most basic principles of nursing is bringing the patient back to optimal functioning. Assisting in healing a wound is one of the most elementary tasks, but can be complicated by many factors. The patient must be assessed for all factors that could affect wound healing. Giving the best care must begin with the knowledge of wounds, wound healing, and available equipment.
Synopsis
Wound healing is very prevalent for a variety of wounds, many of those being pressure ulcers in geriatric patients. The baby boomer generation is very large and within the next 30 years, the aging population will grow enormously, increasing the need for wound care. All nurses must be educated on the most up to date and best practice for healing wounds.
According to Casey in Kai Tiaki Nursing journal (2012), within the last twenty years available dressings for wound healing have increased exponentially now including fifty-eight categories. The nurse has the responsibility to select the best dressing, for a specific wound to promote optimal healing. The idea behind dressings has also changed. Dressings previously were designed to keep a wound dry, absorbing secretion, and preventing infection (Casey, 2012). Dressings today are designed to facilitate healing, provide a moist environment, debridement, infection control, thermal insulations, and possible suction to remove drainage and pull oxygen and nutrients to the wound bed (Casey, 2012).
Relevance
Proper effective wound care is expensive, according to Kaufman and Pahl’s article in Dermatology Nursing (2003), the care of one pressure ulcer can easily cost $23,465 and take an average 247 days to heal. Kaufman and Pahl’s (2003) research showed great success when treating a pressure ulcer with a vacuum assisted closure device, showing closure in 97 days and costing only $14,564. The cost of treatment correlates significantly with the healing time. According to van Anholt, Sobotka,Meijer, Heyman, Groen, Topinkova, van Leen, and Schols (2010), if you decrease wound size, you use fewer dressings, spend less time, and ultimately less money on the wound care.
Beyond the need for knowledge of dressings, the nurse must have the knowledge of types of wounds, and factors affecting healing. Wounds needing to be addressed may be acute, or chronic (existing for more than twelve weeks) (Casey, 2012). The wounds will need to advance through all four stages of healing: inflammation, proliferation, re-epithelialization, and maturation (Casey, 2012). In order for a wound to heal, it must be kept open, healing from the inside out.

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