Reaction: Infection control is the prevention of any microorganism to enter a wound.

Infection control or the prevention of infection is one of our agenda or goal to patients who are post surgery. In an operation there will be a break in the skin wherein we all know that the skin is the first line of defense therefore it increase the risk for acquiring or having an infection hence proper wound care and wound dressing is needed for us to achieve our goal. Wound dressings and devices form an important segment of the medical and pharmaceutical wound care and infection control Their primary function was to keep the wound dry by allowing evaporation of wound exudates and preventing entry of harmful bacteria into the wound. Wound Healing Dressings and Drug Delivery Systems A Review by JOSHUA S. BOATENG,1 KERR H. MATTHEWS,2 HOWARD N.E. STEVENS,1 GILLIAN M. ECCLESTON1 states that It has now been shown however, that having a warm moist wound environment achieves more rapid and successful wound healing. Recognition of the importance of cleanliness and good aseptic practice in medicine and surgery has led to improvements in the quality of wound management materials. In this journal it talks about some types of dressings that can be used in postoperative cases furthermore they also talk about its advantages and disadvantages, during the research they are able to see and come up with a better or suitable dressing that should be used in caring for surgical wounds. They suggested the use of vapour permeable postoperative dressing and as they say it gives much benefit not only to the patients but as well as the practitioners. This dressing acts as a barrier to external contaminants, allows good circulation and good access to the wound for inspection, allows patient to wash or take shower without changing the dressing , low adhesion to the wound having an easy removal, maintains a moist environment and prevent leakage of exudates to the skin and clothes. But it was also reiterated in the journal and it was also emphasized that prevention of infection needs a multi factorial strategy wherein you cant achieve it using one strategy alone therefore infection control will not only rely with the dressing you used. According to the journal Is Wound Healing Time Affected by the Type of Dressing? by Albert B. Lowenfels, MD . The authors conducted a randomized trial to compare simple gauze dressing to occlusive dressing wherein they found out that there is no significant difference regarding of the two dressing. This vapour dressing is beneficial indeed but the question is, is this dressing affordable to all of the patient or it will just add to the bulk of hospital fees. We all know that we are not all economically stable we cant afford to have things that beyond our capacity. Infection control is all about cleanliness and doing the proper things to be done. Infection is very crucial its very important. Acquiring an

infection shows the irresponsibility of the nurse as well as the doctors it can also be a case of negligence. Infection is preventable as long as you are doing all the necessary measures to be done in caring a wound as it been said it should be multi factorial it should be a collaboration of the patient, the nurse and the doctors as well. A multi factorial strategy include proper hand washing, aseptic technique, dressing selection and practice, antibiotic prophylaxis, surgical practice, patient nutrition, proper wound care and the like. In here as a nurse it is expected to us or it is our responsibility to do patient teaching. In this case patient teaching is well needed to educate our patient to the dos and donts in handling a wound. Infection, exudates and patients quality of life by Julia Lavens states that Efficient and cost-effective management of excessive wound exudates continues to present unique challenges to nurses. Accurate patient and wound assessment is essential to inform the treatment and selection of suitable dressings. The wide range of modern wound management products should be sufficient to meet the needs of every wound type at all phases of healing, and as circumstances change. A nurse has the integral role to provide the best for the patient hence assessment is a very important tool in order to give the best intervention . Health teaching should comprise the proper way of cleaning and dressing a wound. We should also teach them the cardinal signs of infection on what to expect if an infection occurs such as redness, swelling, hot sensation in the area, pain and pus drainage along the wound. In this manner we able to use the ability of the patient to give selfcare and not to always rely with the nurses because we want to promote independence provided that we give the right teachings to them.

References:
http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?sid=eaef70f3-5f60-40d4-b96a-e9e0bafa62c4%40sessionmgr14&vid http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=8f70c2d6-8d25-40d5-8b81a84dff5fec4d%40sessionmgr12&vid=1&hid=10 http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/585349