Wound Vac - when to discontinue?

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Specializes in Hospice, Med/surg, Ortho,Oncology.

My patient has a wound vac to a dehisced abdominal wound. It's been a week already and the wound is healing well. It's approx 10 x 2 x 1 cm with no s/s of infection and scant serosanguinous drainage. When should I discontinue Vac therapy? My pt is on hospice and not a candidate for wound closure with sutures. Also what dressing would you recommend if Vac is discontinued?

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What was the goal of therapy? Was the wound deep initially and the vac granulated the wound to 1cm in depth? If the goals of therapy include management of exudate/pain/contamination then the vac could be continued. The wound vac foam could begin to be cut slightly smaller than the wound in order to encourage rapid epithelialization. If the vac is d/c'd for any reason, the wound dressings would be dictated by wound characteristics, patient pain level with dressing changes, as well as level of exudate. Hope this helps.

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Specializes in Trauma Surgical ICU.

For a hospice pt, I would not DC the wound vac just yet. PP had some great things to consider. We tend to do BID wet to dry dsg changes once the WV is DC'd if the wound is still open.. That would increase pain and discomfort to your pt I would think.

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Specializes in Trauma Surgical ICU.

Can you take pics of the wound to show the PCP and get their guidance if the pt is homebound or bedbound?

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