Pearls for Practice: Appropriate Dressings for the Nonprofessional Caregiver

     The role of wound care professionals is changing worldwide. This is especially true when delivering care in community and long-term care settings, where much of wound care now is provided. At one time, the wound care professional’s responsibilities involved monitoring wound healing, selecting the dressing based on the current condition of the wound, and changing the dressing.

Today, the professional’s role includes a focus on educating the persons who must perform the dressing changes regarding when and how to change dressings and how to identify signs of complications such as infection, dehydration, or maceration so a professional can be contacted for additional advice when necessary. Persons changing the dressings represent a broad range of skills, from clinically trained bedside staff to nonprofessional caregivers and the patient themselves. Professionals monitor the wound healing progress less frequently — timing is determined by the current wound management program, the care setting, and the training and skills of the people changing the dressings.

     In this healthcare environment, practitioners must be even more selective about the dressings they choose. Dressings should be functional over a wide range of wound conditions and levels of caregivers so the prescribing wound care professional is confident about both dressing appropriateness and provision of timely/correct wound management practices. Dressings must demonstrate the ability to help heal wounds while reducing the likelihood of complications secondary to their use. Ideally, dressings that meet these general criteria should be available in both regular and antimicrobial (eg, silver) versions.

     Professional oversight of dressing-related tasks that more often than not are delegated to nonprofessional caregivers requires clinician knowledge of and faith in the products provided.

Pearls for Practice is made possible through the support of Ferris Mfg. Corp, Burr Ridge, IL (www.polymem.com). The opinions and statements of the clinicians providing Pearls for Practice are specific to the respective authors and are not necessarily those of Ferris Mfg. Corp., OWM, or HMP Communications.

This article was not subject to the Ostomy Wound Management peer-review process.