Introduction to Changing a Gauze Dressing
A wound is an injury that involves a break in the skin. Wounds result from surgery, trauma due to an accident, or disease. How a wound is treated depends on the cause, the size and type of the wound, and whether the person has other health problems.
For example, a clean surgical wound may not heal as well if a person has diabetes, because the disease affects blood flow and can slow healing. A large open wound from trauma heals more slowly than a small surgical wound.
One way a doctor treats a wound is by covering it with a dressing. A dressing protects and supports a wound, and promotes healing. A gauze dressing absorbs the fluid or drainage that normally exits a wound and provides a cover against infection.
When a person has a wound, of any type, there is a risk for infection, because germs easily enter through a break in the skin. See our lesson on Infection Control.
If you care for a person who has a gauze wound dressing you need to:
- Know the signs of infection
- Know what can place the person at risk for infection
- Know the proper way for changing the dressing as ordered by their doctor
There are many types of dressings. This lesson reviews the steps for changing dry gauze dressings.
Here is Clayton’s Story:
My brother had surgery to repair a large hernia in his belly last week. He had stitches that were about 12 inches long. He came home, but five days after surgery he had a problem. Two of the stitches opened up and he began to drain fluid. The doctor chose not to put any more stitches in, but had his nurse show us how to change a dressing over the wound until it could heal. The nurse told us about the risk of the wound getting infected and what we needed to do to keep the wound clean.
I guess good hand washing is one of the most important things we need to do. It has been two weeks now and the wound is healing. There is very little drainage now when I change the dressing. And it has been easy to take care of it. The nurse told us that by the time we come back to the office next week we will probably be able to let the wound just stay open to the air.