Are you going to change your practice? I’m not!

No doubt many of you will be questioning the findings of the Cochrane Review ‘Dressings for the Prevention of Surgical Site Infection’ in my last post but there is no need to get rid of the wonderful dressings on the market to revert to dry gauze dressings or to leave the surgical site exposed. I certainly will not be recommending gauze or exposure of the surgical site.

You don’t need to be critical of the methodology of its findings – just remember the Cochrane Review and the recommendations are based on RCTs only and did not take into account all the other papers that are not RCTs.

We already know that hydrocolloids, for example, prevent bacteria & water from entering the surgical site and they prevent self-contamination of the surgical site from the patient’s own fingers or staff hands; great Infection Control measures.

We know that tape used to secure gauze dressings may be contaminated. And bloody gauze dressings pose huge OH&S issues for nurses handling and removing them, ‘flick’ & ‘splash’ injuries for example. So despite spending forever researching this subject & co-authoring the Cochrane Review I will NOT put gauze on a surgical site nor will I leave the surgical site exposed. I won’t be persuaded by [perceived] cost savings either.

I look forward to your comments. What are your favourite dressings for surgical sites? Did any of you contemplate leaving a surgical site exposed after reading the Review?

Kate