causes of wounds in healthcare

Wound Treatment: Importance and Control

Wounds can be caused by a variety of factors both inside and outside of the healthcare context; however, the occurrence of wounds, stage of development, and treatment differ from patient to patient. Wound treatment is crucial for preventing aggravation and the development of further health concerns. While the causes of wounds outside the healthcare environment may be outside the control of healthcare practitioners, causal factors within the care environment are under their control. As a result, a wound care plan that focuses on wound prevention, early detection, and treatment is crucial.

Importance of Proper Wound Management

Using suitable procedures for treating wounds within a specific time frame after occurrence, healing, and recovery are usually easier and faster (Yamane et al., 2013). However, in instances, where wound management does not integrate proper care it can result to the death of a patient. Untreated wounds act as a leeway for injecting thousands of pathogens into the body of the affected person (Williams et al., 2010). It also becomes costly in treatment and, as a result, can reduce welfare of the affected person. For instance, in the United States of America, chronic wounds affect close to 6.5 million people, and this calls for great medical intervention, which is expensive as well (Yamane et al., 2013).

Types of Wounds and Severity

There are distinct types of wounds that affect people, and these classifications describe different causal factors and varying presentation. For example, Yamane et al. (2013) noted that there are wounds caused due to pressure on the body tissues, venous stasis ulcers, neuropathic ulcers, surgical wounds, and many others. Wounds are either open or tissue wounds. Severity or risk involved in the wounds depends on how much their exposure to pathogenic access (Yamane et al., 2013).

Pressure Ulcers: Stages and Characteristics

With close focus on the pressure ulcers, there are also different levels of this kind of wounds. For example, the stage one-pressure ulcer is when skin is still intact but presents a non-bleachable redness of a localized area. This kind of wound is likely to be over a bony area. Yamane et al., (2013) indicated that this kind of wound might not be visible but on a dark skin, but its color might be different from the surrounding skin. The stage two wound presents with partial thickness and loss of dermis. It has a shallow opening and red, pink bed, but sloughs are not present (Hess, 2011). Stage three wound has full thickness, subcutaneous layers of fat present with no bone, tendons or muscles exposed (Murphy & Evans, 2012). Finally, stage five has the worst features that present full thickness of tissues, hair loss, including exposure of bones, muscles and tendons. In addition, some parts of this wound might have sloughs and eschars.

Evidence-Based Research and Wound Management

New methods of dressing wounds are verifiable through examination of evidence-based research on wound management and published literature on their effectiveness. Research literature can be located in the most current nursing and medical journals including scholarly research that has been conducted on the new method. The new would care method can be linked to theories such as Levine's conservation model and the theory of moist wound healing. The link between these theories and the new methodology can be determined through a mixed methods research that integrates both qualitative and quantitative research methods. A mixed methods research strategy ensures that all relevant information regarding the strengths and drawbacks of the new method are identified and measured against pre-existing care methods. This will determine whether the new method of wound care is more effective and reliable towards the realization of wound care goals in comparison with current methods.

References

Hess, C. T. (2011). Checklist for factors affecting wound healing. Advances in Skin & Wound Care, 24, 4. Retrieved from http://journals.lww.com/aswcjournal/Fulltext/2011/04000/ Checklist_for_Factors_Affecting_Wound_Healing.10.aspx.

Murphy, P. S. & Evans, G. R. D. (2012). Advances in wound healing: A review of current wound healing products. Plastic Surgery International. 2012(2012), 1-8.

Williams, S., Henricks, W. H., Becich, M. J., Toscano, M. & Carter, A. B. (2010). Telepathology for patient care: what am I getting myself into? Advances in Anatomic Pathology, 17 (2), 130-49.

Yamane, T., Nakagami, G., Yoshino, S., Muramatsu, A., Matsui, S., Oishi, Y., … Sanada, H. (2013). Hydrocellular foam dressing promotes wound healing along with increases in hyaluronan synthase 3 and PPARα gene expression in epidermis. PLoS ONE, 8(8), e73988.