The Management of Wound Infections

Wound management is one of the cornerstones for nursing care however, effective wound care extends far beyond the application of the wound itself. Nurses may be required to assess, plan, implement, and evaluate wound care; therefore, order to fill these roles it’s critical to have an understanding of the several different areas of wound care such as, integumentary system, classification of wounds, wound procedures, and documentation. Knowledge in each of these areas will allow nurses to make well informed decisions about wound care, and as a result play an active part in wound healing.

A wound infection happens when a type of germ (bacteria) starts growing in the wound. In some cases, this can cause the wound to break open. Wound infections need treatment.

The first civilization dealt with disorders and provided detailed information about wound management were ancient Egyptians. Wound infections evidently appeared in times of World War I that accounted a significant mortality and morbidity rate among injured soldiers. Currently, around 11 million people worldwide require medical treatment for wound infections, 300,000 die every year. Scientists highlighted the concept of introduction micro-organisms into wounds resulting in an infection. The infected wound was successfully treated with a wide-spectrum antibiotics that can eradicate the pathogenic micro-organisms. Due to extensive use of antimicrobial drugs such as β-lactam, methicillin, vancomycin, etc, new strains with high resistance have

Further Infection due to the effects of age, location of the wound, malnourishment, and diabetes mellitus.

The urinary tract was the leading site of nosocomial infections. Of the total infections noted, 44.1% were in the urinary tract, 28.4% in the respiratory tract, 15.1% were surgical wounds, 8.1% cutaneous infections, 1.4% bacteremia, and 2.9% in other sites. The frequency by which the pathogens were isolated in these sites paralleled the instrumentations done in these sites.

Wound infections are a common type of infections that may contribute to longer hospital stay. Most of these

Bacterial biofilms are a major barrier in terms of wound healing. During cell to cell

• Have open wounds on the skin such as cuts, burns, bites, and scrapes. Bacteria

The practice of wound healing through incision and drainage dates back to 1400 B.C. in ancient Egypt (Broughton et al., 2006). With over two millennia worth of advances in medical technology and the revolution of antibiotics, the ancient practice of wound healing evolved to shape protocols used today. One of the most common, current practices for treating abscesses involves incision and drainage followed by packing

Many nosocomial infections are caused from pathogens in the hospital. Ironically, the healthcare facility can be viewed as the cause for nosocomial infections. Although direct contact is the primary cause of these infections, indirect contact with pathogens must be considered as well. Patients can be exposed to these pathogens in a number of ways, i.e. contact with other patients, improper sterilization of hospital equipment, as well as the lowered immunity the patients themselves present while healing. One-day procedures have become a common practice, especially for non-invasive procedures. While many are not fans of “drive-by surgery”, it has benefits of reducing patients’ exposure to these pathogens. The bedding, clothing, toys, handkerchiefs, and surgical instruments all can serve as vectors in the spread of infection (Hospital Acquired Infections and Prevention).

Surgical site infections (SSIs) within a 30 day period of an operative procedure can contribute to an increased risk of morbidity and mortality every year. To prevent the occurrence of an SSI, healthcare professionals must include a scrupulous operative technique, administration of appropriate antimicrobial prophylaxis and minimize the introduction of contamination by hospital personnel and operating room environment. The student wishes to emphasize specifically the importance of skin preparation to prevent surgical site infection.

In 1992, CDC revised its definition of ‘wound infection’, by creating the definition, ‘surgical site infection’, to prevent the confusion between the infection of a surgical incision and the infection of a traumatic wound (Horan et al 1992). A precise definition of surgical site infection is vital for personnel measuring infection rates (WHO 2009). The definitions of surgical site infection may vary between research studies but are commonly based on those described by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention although other valid measures have been used (NICE 2008). The CDC definition describes three levels of SSI:

Customarily, three stages are use to portray wound microbiology. These three stages depicted as: pollution, colonization and disease. Tainting alludes to the nearness of microbes in the injury, though the term colonization is utilized for bacterial group which is increasing inside the injury yet not causing tissue harm. The "basic colonization" is utilized to depict microorganisms that are becoming inside the injury yet don't have established side effects of contamination. Nonetheless, they antagonistically influence wound mending (Edwards and Harding, 2004) Some scientists have recommended that microscopic organisms may assume a fundamental part in ordinary injury recuperating. Be that as it may, the particular part of bacterial group in wound

Wound healing is a complex biological process and lot of research has been conducted for long period of time. The main consideration of dermatologists has to close wound area without any microbial infection. Inflammation, coagulation, proliferation and remoulding of tissues is the main events on wound healing process. One of the prominent feature is marked by the repair of extracellular matrix forming epidermis of skin (Gurtner et al., 2008; Lamers et al., 2011). Chronicity in wounds patients is the leading cause of death worldwide due to wound sepsis. Wound sepsis is the condition in where systemic infection occurs at the site of wound and increase the chances of patient’s deaths. Various factors such as formation of biofilm, microbial pathogens

The literature search comprised of database of Cinahl, the Cochrane Library, Medline, Google researcher and British Nursing Index (BNI). Inquiry terms utilized, were proof based practice, ordinary saline, faucet water, wound care, and wound contamination. Research was likewise made in the library to obtain books and diary articles. Hunting down the viability of intervention to increase compliance with wound cleansing using tap water contrasted with normal saline, most articles the writer chose were orderly audits utilizing (Sackett's progressive system of levels of confirmation, 2000).