Skin care... what dressing for what?

[Nuieve]

Is there a guidelines for skin care? Our facility doesn't have the protocols handy (our instructor should have ones, but she got into car accident and we don't have a replacement yet) We have dozens of dressing types and creams. I have no idea what to put when. Sometime we get orders, sometimes not, sometimes the orders come later after you already took care of it. For example, surgical incision. Or stage 1-2 ulcers. Or cut. Or abrasion. Or scab. Or PICC site. Or bili site. Or peg tube site. Or some other type of wound/lesion. I've been working only 2 weeks, but this is one simple but at the same time puzzling part of my work. Our med room is stocked with 3 218 879 types of dressings, bandages and what not, and when the time comes to change the dressing (when it's not written in the TAR) I'm really scratching my head. Should it be adhesive or non-adhesive? Transparent or regular gauze? How many layers? What cream? Changed how often? I feel stupid for asking about what kind of dressing the new pt needs/has and how it needs to be done. I would really appreciate some structured info on what to use when and how.

[ghillbert, MSN, NP]

If there's a certain brand of dressings you stock, you can access the clinical specialist at the manufacturer to do inservice for night shift, too. They usually are wound care nurses working for the company and can be really helpful as to what to put where. They also tend to have great posters with photos to help guide your staging.

The type of dressing depend on the type of wound, and what you're aiming to do. If you're trying to soak up drainage, you'd want a different dressing than for a wound bed that needs debriding.