Tower Hamlets product guidance
Wound management: Getting it right first time
The aim of this wound management product guidance is to help the clinician in their assessment and choice of dressing so that an optimum wound healing environment can be achieved.
This guidance is intended to be used by healthcare professionals requesting prescribed dressings for the management of wounds in Tower Hamlets.
This guide is designed to help you get the best outcomes for your patients. It is hoped that the information will assist all practitioners to provide a consistent approach and high quality wound management and care.
The document will address key aspects of wound management and help direct you to the best and most appropriate dressing, bandage or hosiery so that healing is optimised.
Remember – dressings do not heal wounds
Dressings can only facilitate healing by managing wound bed conditions that may be preventing / delaying the healing. Some types of wounds or ulcers require specific management to promote healing; for instance, pressure ulcers or neuropathic foot ulcers require offloading over the site, venous leg ulcers require compression bandaging.
We also need to remember that all people with a wound need to have a healthy, balanced nutritional intake as part of their management plan.
A thorough assessment of both the patient and their wound with consideration of factors that might be delaying healing is key to wound treatment decisions.
The dressing selection chart on pages 18 – 19 is designed to:
- Lead to better conversations with your patient and support self-management where possible
- Support improved decision making and meet clinical need
- Optimise product use and reduce waste
- Promote timely access to a suitable wound management product
- Assist nurse or medical prescribers