Importance Of Wound Dressing

Your wound dressing should be changed two times a day in the morning and at night. We have provided a packet of supplies for 4 dressing changes and your home health nurse will be bringing additional supplies to your home tomorrow at the first visit. Detailed instructions for the dressing change is listed in the discharge paperwork, but I would like to personally go over the dressing change with you and your mother now. To start, wash your hands with antibacterial soap and place on clean gloves. Then, take off the old dressing and note the drainage. Changes such as green, yellow, or foul-smelling drainage means your wound is not healing properly or the infection may be getting worse. If this happens, notify your family doctor right away. Next, look at the whole foot and then around the cut to see if there is any new redness or swelling.
Throw away the old gloves and place new gloves on after taking the old dressing off so that you do not contaminate the new dressing. The doctor has ordered to cleanse the wound and flush with normal saline, so these syringes of normal saline will be used for this. After cleaning the wound, dry well. You should be sure that the whole foot is dried properly after each dressing change so new skin break-down does not develop. Once completely dry, apply a non-stick dressing and then wrap with the roll of gauze. Be sure to not wrap the gauze too tightly. If your toes turn pale in color or if they start to tingle or feel cold, loosen the dressing right away. Look for a nice pink color to your toes and the dressing should never feel tight. Dispose of the gloves and wash your hands after the dressing change is completed. Well