Occlusive wound dressings in emergency medicine and acute care

One of the great misconceptions in wound care is that a wound heals best when permitted to form a dry scab. By contrast, moisture has repeatedly been shown to significantly accelerate wound healing. Emergency physicians and other acute care providers are encouraged to incorporate occlusive moisture-retentive dressings into their regular practice to expedite healing, reduce pain and scarring, improve wound care convenience and patient compliance, and minimize wound contamination and infection.     

Understanding wound dressings: foam dressings

Foam dressings vary in composition and levels of absorbency. They are available in both adhesive and non-adhesive options and in a wide variety of sizes and shapes (Boxes 1 and 2). Some products have film backings that are waterproof.     

Wound dressings

Each child, wound and wound site is unique and these factors will impact on the type of dressing the nurse decides to use. Wound dressings broadly fall into a number of classes, depending on the material they are made of. The nurse should be aware of the particular characteristics of each class of dressing and the impact these can have on wound healing. Modern wound dressings are designed to do one or more of three things: protect, debride and absorb excess exudate. With this knowledge the nurse can make the most appropriate selections and provide explanations to parents and child about the choices available.     

Using film dressings

Film dressings were one of the first modern wound-dressing products. They are extremely flexible, transparent and adhesive. They have no capacity to absorb fluid but are able to 'breathe off' small amounts of fluid by a process known as moisture vapour transpiration (MVT). The rate of MVT varies between brands but is, at best, minimal. This means that such dressings are not suitable for wounds that produce anything more than a minimal amount of exudate. Film dressings should not be used interchangeably with film products designed for intravenous cannula retention. Intravenous cannula dressings are designed to keep the cannula site dry and have a much higher MVT rate, whereas film dressings are designed to keep the wound moist.     

Modern wound dressings

With the wide array of wound dressings available today, it can be a difficult task to select the appropriate dressing required for a particular wound. Georgina Casey reviews the healing process and discusses the characteristics of different types of dressing.     

创面敷料的研究现状与进展

目的:对市场上应用的各类创面敷料进行总结归纳和分析,得出理想敷料的设计要求和特点,为下一步的研究开发提供理论依据。资料来源:应用计算机检索Medline1990-01/2006-12关于创面敷料的文章。检索词“Wound Dressings”并限定文章的语言种类为English。同时利用计算机检索中国期刊全文数据库1990-01/2006-12的相关文章,限定文章语言种类为中文,检索词“创面敷料”。资料选择:对资料进行初审,纳入标准:关于创面敷料的种类、原材料、特点、适应证和优缺点。排除重复性研究。资料提炼:共收集到符合上述要求的文献42篇,排除11篇重复性研究。31篇符合纳入标准。资料综合:创面敷料大致可分为传统敷料、合成敷料、生物敷料、组织工程创面覆盖物和新型生物合成敷料等5类,每种敷料都有其各自的特点和适应证,经过对比,新型生物合成敷料在现有各种敷料中具有成本低、能促进创面愈合、防止感染和无毒副作用等明显优点。结论:加速创面愈合和防止细菌感染是临床治疗的一个重要方面,因此对创面敷料的研制是研究的热点之一。通过对各种创面敷料的对比研究,得出新型生物合成敷料是一种较为理想的创面敷料。