Podcast 841: Wound Care

<p><strong>Contributor: Aaron Lessen, MD</strong></p> <p><strong>Educational Pearls:</strong></p> <ul> <li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1"><span style= "font-weight: 400;">Wound care in the emergency department aims to prevent future infection</span></li> <li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1"><span style= "font-weight: 400;">Copious wound irrigation is the important step in preventing wound infection</span></li> <ul> <li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="2"><span style= "font-weight: 400;">Studies have shown that irrigation with tap water is just as effective, if not superior,  to  irrigation with saline or other solutions</span></li> </ul> <li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1"><span style= "font-weight: 400;">Several studies have shown no reduction in wound infection rates when using sterile gloves during wound care</span></li> <ul> <li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="2"><span style= "font-weight: 400;">Recent study in the Netherlands compared infection rates between patients undergoing wound repair with and without sterile gloves</span></li> <li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="2"><span style= "font-weight: 400;">Receiving wound care with nonsterile gloves was noninferior to wound care utilizing sterile gloves</span></li> </ul> </ul> <p><strong>References</strong></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Fernandez R, Griffiths R. Water for wound cleansing.</span> <em><span style= "font-weight: 400;">Cochrane Database Syst Rev</span></em><span style="font-weight: 400;">. Feb 15 2012;(2):Cd003861. doi:10.1002/14651858.CD003861.pub3</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Heckmann N, Simcox T, Kelley D, Marecek GS. Wound Irrigation for Open Fractures.</span> <em><span style="font-weight: 400;">JBJS Rev</span></em><span style="font-weight: 400;">. Jan 2020;8(1):e0061. doi:10.2106/jbjs.Rvw.19.00061</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Zwaans JJM, Raven W, Rosendaal AV, et al. Non-sterile gloves and dressing versus sterile gloves, dressings and drapes for suturing of