Kaohsiung Armed Forces General Hospital

The skin is the first barrier of the body. When the skin is damaged and a wound is created, the protection of the body becomes not intact. The proper wound care can enhance wound healing and decrease the possibility of infection.

1. Supplies preparation: 

• Water-soluble iodine or anti-inflammation ointment, sterile normal saline, sterile cotton, sterile gauze, tape, etc.

2. Steps of Dressing:

• Correct hand washing prior to wound dressing.
• Remove the old dressing, observe the wound including size, depth, colour of exudate, the amount of exudate, the odour of exudate (Exudate is any fluid that filters from the circulatory system into lesions or areas of inflammation.)
• If the wound is dirty (contains blood or exudation), it should be cleaned with sterile normal saline initially.
• Use sterile cotton or gauze to soak water-soluble iodine to clean the wound (every cotton or gauze is used once only): dab or wipe gently from the centre of the wound to 5 cm away from the wound. Use the cotton or gauze to soak sterile normal saline to wipe off water-soluble iodine on the wound after 30 seconds.
• If the doctor prescribes anti-inflammatory ointment, use sterile cotton with some of the ointment to cover the wound.
• Use correctly sized sterile gauze to cover the wound , and tape the four edges of the gauze on the skin completely.
• Wash hands correctly after dressing.

3. Considerations of wound care:

• Must wash hands properly before and after wound dressing.
• Keep the wound and the skin around the wound clean and dry. Change a dressing immediately if the wound or the gauze is wet or dirty. A wet dressing will encourage infection.
• Please inform the doctor and nurses if these signs or symptoms (eg. more redness, swelling, more painful, pus, or the drainage coming from the wound or aroung the incision) are detected.
• Eat foods high in protein and vitamin C (eg. eggs, milk, fish, meat, oranges, kiwi fruits etc) in order to decrease the time of wound healing.
• Avoid alcohol, cigarettes, caffeine products and spicy foods.

4. If any of the signs or symptoms listed below are detected, please see doctors immediately:

• Fever or chilling.
• The wound is larger or deeper, the suture of wound is not intact, and the wound is not healing well.
• The wound has an unpleasant smell, has an increase in pus exudation, the wound is persistently bleeding .
• Increased redness in the wound, swelling, the wound getting warmer than normal skin, increasing pain, redness radiating out into the skin around the wound.
• The sensation of the wound is unusual, eg. Numbness of limbs.