Week 4 - Wound care products

Question 1

What are the factors impacting choice of product?

Answer 1

• Wound – location, size, type
• Manage exudate
• Promote debridement
• Manage infection
• Frequency of dressing change, ease/difficulty
• Cost

Question 2

If a wound is hard, dry and black - what product would you select?

Answer 2

• Hydrogel
• Hydrate, separate eschar

Question 3

If a wound is exuding yellow - what product would you select?

Answer 3

• Alginate
• Absorbs exudate, debridement

Question 4

If a wound is moist red - what product would you select?

Answer 4

• Hydrocolloid
• Provide barrier and control humidity

Question 5

If a wound is pink/red - what product would you select?

Answer 5

• Transparent film
• Allows epithelialisation, reduces shear

Question 6

Making decisions - Red/pink wounds

Answer 6

• Vascular granulation tissue or epithelialisation
• Protect regenerating tissue
• gentle cleaning; protect peri-wound
• fill dead space (hydrogel or alginate)
• cover (hydrocolloid, transparent film, clear absorbent acrylic dressing)
• aim for infrequent dressing change

Question 7

What products to use for granulating and epithelialising wound

Answer 7

• Hydrocolloids
• Soft silicone dressing
• Transparent films

Question 8

What are the advantages of using hydrocolloid dressing?

Answer 8

• Waterproof which allows patients to shower
• Absorbs exudate
• Gel that forms from the wound fluid provides a moist wound environment
• Reduces pain
• The moist environment promotes the formation of new tissue

Question 9

What are the disadvantages of using hydrocolloid dressing?

Answer 9

• Care should be taken when using hydrocolloids as they can encourage the growth of anaerobic bacteria
• Use with caution on fragile or compromised skin as the adhesive may cause trauma
• May be difficult to keep in place
• Sometimes have a distinctive malodour that is mistaken for pus

Question 10

What are the advantages of using silicone dressings?

Answer 10

• Conforms to different anatomical shapes
• Atraumatic to wound and surrounding skin
• Absorbent of up to moderate exudate
• Can be used on infected wounds if appropriate antibiotic treatment provided
• Mepilex Border
• Allevyn Gentle Border
• Biatain Foam

Question 11

What are the advantages of using transparent films?

Answer 11

• Good for low exudating, primary intention wounds
• Economical
• Primary dressing with an adhesive secondary dressing
• Island dressings
• Primapore
• Opsite

Question 12

What products to use for overgranulation / hypergranulation tissues?

Answer 12

• We need to compress the tissue, products such as:
• Foams
• Impregnated gauze

Question 13

Foams

Answer 13

• Low to heavily exuding wounds
• Granulating and epithelialising wounds

Question 14

Impregnated gauze

Answer 14

• Traditional dressing
• Can be adherent
• New tissue trauma due to drying out and leaving indentations in the wound bed
• Pain
• Bleeding
• Contact dermatitis

Question 15

Making decisions - Yellow wounds

Answer 15

• Slough - moist, devitalised, thick, stringy, adhered or purulent exudate.
• Remove non-viable tissue & manage exudate
• clean by swabbing or irrigating
• promote autolytic debridement; absorb exudate(alginate); may need to add moisture (hydrogel)- If colonisation of microorganisms and
  biofilm consider topical antimicrobial
  dressing Iodine, Silver)

Question 16

What to do with a sloughy wound

Answer 16

• Remove non-viable tissue
• Rehydrate wound
• Absorb exudate
• Products to use:
• Alginate
• Impregnated
• Hydrogel
• Hydrofibres

Question 17

What to do with an infected wound?

Answer 17

*Antimicrobial dressings
- Silver dressing
- Iodine dressing
* Odour absorbing dressings
- Charcoal

Question 18

Making decisions - Black wounds

Answer 18

• Necrotic tissues or eschar tissue
• Require debridement (removal of dead tissue)
• rehydrate the wound bed (hydrogel, hydrocolloid) and body’s own enzymes break down tissue; autolytic debridement

Question 19

What to do with a necrotic/eschar wound

Answer 19

Debride (remove dead tissue)
- rehydrate the wound bed & body’s own enzymes break
down tissue
- Manage odour

Question 20

What is secondary dressing

Answer 20

• Used to secure primary dressing
• Used to protect and absorb exudate and odour
• Facilitates
• Secondar dressing includes:
• Non-stick dressing
• Absorbent pads
• Charcoal
• Bandages
• Tapes

Question 21

What is an important critical thinking when doing wounds?

Answer 21

 If the wound has non-viable tissue, debride it.
 If the wound is dry, add moisture.
 If the wound has drainage, absorb it.
 Wound dressings should be changed as needed to meet the characteristics of the wound bed.
 If a wound fails to respond, consider changing products to one with a different mechanism ofaction.
 More than one dressing may be required on a wound, ie hydrogel, non-stick pad, combine pad and secured with tape or tubular bandage

Question 22

What dressing absorb moisture?

Answer 22

• Alginate
• Hydrofibres
• Foams
• Absorbent pads
• natural fibre dry dressing

Question 23

What dressing are neutral?

Answer 23

• Transparent films
• Non-adherent dry dressings
• Silicone dressing

Question 24

What dressing add moisture?

Answer 24

• Hydrocolloids
• Hydrogels - wound fillers
• Tulle gras dressings