Essential Home Safety Tips for Dressing Wounds
Proper in-home care with safe treatment procedures and dressing wounds are essential to ensure that wounds heal better and infections do not occur. Proper wound dressing is a serious matter; precautions must be made to reduce risks of further health complications.
Wash Your Hands
Being a good in-home caretaker starts with maintaining personal cleanliness. Before you dress or care for any wound, you must make sure your hands, forearms, and any body part that will be around the wound site are properly cleaned. Simply washing thoroughly with soap and cleansers for thirty seconds is all that is needed to better avoid infection while dressing a wound. Make sure you wash under your nails and completely dry your hands before touching or dressing any wound.
Clean the Wound
Just as you would wash your hands, it is important to regularly clean the wound to reduce chances of infection and further problems. We offer a wide array of lotion and cleanser products for cleaning wound areas, many of which are vitamin-filled or formulated with aloe vera for healing and relief. These cleaners will not irritate the skin or wound, like many alcohol-based cleansers do. Be careful when drying a freshly cleaned wound, so you do not tear it open further or hurt the patient. A gentle pat down should be sufficient.
Regularly Change the Dressings
You will be changing the dressings and cleaning out the wound regularly. Unless the wound dressings become dirty or wet, change them per the doctor’s instructions. Changing the dressings before they become dirty and grimy allows the wound to heal properly and avoids the possibility of infections from poor hygienic upkeep.
Infection Signs
When cleaning and replacing dressings, it is not only important to avoid infection but also be on the lookout for it. Here are some basic signs that indicate the infection has taken place:
- pus
- swelling
- bleeding
- increased redness
- more pain than usual around wound site
- a high fever
Cleaning is essential for alleviating discomfort from any infected wound. However, if the infection escalates, medical attention will need to be sought or it may require medicine or surgery.
Help optimal healing, and avoid worsening situations. Contact us to learn more about properly dressing wounds and to see how our products will best help you and your patient in the recovery process.
