[pjs40]

we were just told by a home health nurse that is caring for my hubby's wound that every time you can the dressing & expose the wound that it slows down the healing process by 7 hours...is this true?..this is one thing i have never heard of before.
thanks in advance

[Shutter]

Whoever told you this does not know what they are talking about! As a wound care nurse for a home health care agency I have never heard this or read it. If changing the dressing and exposing the wound to air slowed down the healing process for any length of time, we would never get a wound to heal. I'd like to know where she got this information from. Sounds to me like this nurse just doesn't want to do the job.

[New CCU RN]

sounds like BS to me too!!!

[kids]

Sounds to me like *somebody* is taking the moist environment idea a bit far.

Burt I have to ask...what kind of wound?

[RN~in~CT]

I've never heard of that.

[Shutter]

Hey, I need to apologize! I was wrong in what I said in my original post about this not being a true idea (re delaying wound healing 7 hours with each dressing change). I talked to our ET/WOCN at work this morning about it. She said this is true! It has to do with the fact that exposing the wound to air lowers the internal temperature of the wound and interupts the biologic process the body has started. The wound must warm up again to the "proper" temperature before the process can continue. She explained it better than that, but I can't remember all the technical details right now. I sure learned something though! I'm glad I have her as a very available and willing resource.

Again, my apologies for replying to your question before I had checked all the information.

[michelle126]

Okay even if its true, still means we need to do our jobs and change the dressings. I can hear my one nurse now....."But I'll slow down the wound healing if I change it every day..." But really, just another reason why its so important to have the right dressing and frequency of changing it.
I guess my mother was wrong when she said it was better to leave it open to air

Michelle 126
Band Aid Junkie

[RN~in~CT]

Originally posted by Shutter
Hey, I need to apologize! I was wrong in what I said in my original post about this not being a true idea (re delaying wound healing 7 hours with each dressing change). I talked to our ET/WOCN at work this morning about it. She said this is true! It has to do with the fact that exposing the wound to air lowers the internal temperature of the wound and interupts the biologic process the body has started. The wound must warm up again to the "proper" temperature before the process can continue. She explained it better than that, but I can't remember all the technical details right now. I sure learned something though! I'm glad I have her as a very available and willing resource.

Again, my apologies for replying to your question before I had checked all the information.

Thanks for the update! Learned something new today

[kids]

Originally posted by RN~in~CT
Thanks for the update! Learned something new today

Yes, thank you. I too learned something new.

[sevans]

Leaving a dressing in place as long as possible does not necessarily mean someone is not doing their job. This is one of the rationales behind many of the newer dressings that are designed to stay in place 3-7 days. While they are not suitable for all wounds, many times the orders for dressings that require daily dressing changes are due to tradition, rather than necessity.