Podcast 719: Normal Saline vs. Tap Water for Wound Irrigation

<p><strong>Contributor: Ricky Dhaliwal, MD</strong></p> <p><strong>Educational Pearls:</strong></p> <ul> <li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1"><span style= "font-weight: 400;">Multiple RCTs and a Cochrane Review found there is no difference in wound infection rates when irrigating with tap water </span></li> <li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1"><span style= "font-weight: 400;">Pressure of the water and how extensively the wound is irrigated were the most important factors affecting infection rates</span></li> <li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1"><span style= "font-weight: 400;">Quantity and type of water were independently not as important</span></li> </ul> <p><strong>References</strong></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Fernandez R, Griffiths R. Water for wound cleansing. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2012;(2):CD003861. Published 2012 Feb 15. doi:10.1002/14651858.CD003861.pub3</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Lewis K, Pay JL. Wound Irrigation. [Updated 2021 Jun 4]. In: StatPearls [Internet]. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing; 2021 Jan-. Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK538522/</span></p> <p><em><span style="font-weight: 400;">Summarized by John Spartz, MS4 | Edited by Erik Verzemnieks, MD</span></em></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The Emergency Medical Minute is excited to announce that we are now offering</span> <em><span style="font-weight: 400;">AMA PRA Category 1 credits™</span></em> <span style="font-weight: 400;">via online course modules. To access these and for more information, visit our website at</span> <a href= "https://emergencymedicalminute.org/cme-courses/"><span style= "font-weight: 400;">https://emergencymedicalminute.org/cme-courses/</span></a> <span style="font-weight: 400;">and create an account. </span></p> <p><a href= "https://www.paypal.com/donate?token=6bIZ91UwjZALMiRLAEcQYYPHyLILwbivQwgtGl3JzaB6oGAQK1B2nrGSGvrS-g7zJApXzVlWIO-lmLfB"> <span style="font-weight: 400;">Donate to EMM today!</span></a></p> <p