Wound Care at Home

Whether you’ve had a major injury or a minor cut, a wound should never be ignored or neglected. Avoiding wound care can lead to severe consequences, right from infections such as  cellulitis or sepsis, to further complications. Wound care is also important to facilitate the healing process with less scarring.

The first few weeks after you get a wound are most crucial in effective wound care management. If your wound is too deep, it is advisable to be under 24 hour care to ensure that the wound is taken care of properly. This is also especially important if you have any underlying health issues that may affect wound recovery.

Wound care involves several stages and is a multiple-step process. The different stages of wound care treatment include diagnosing the type of the wound, taking into account the various factors that would affect healing of the wound, and finally the proper treatment for wound management. Here are what the various steps look like: 

1. Assessing the Wound

This step goes beyond just understanding the type of wound. It involves evaluating the starting point for treatment. In this step, the medical professionals will try and understand the size of the wound, its depth, amount and type of drainage, and the appearance of the area around the wound.

2. Ensuring Proper Oxygenation

For your wound to heal, it is important that the blood sends the required oxygen to the wounded area. This is known as oxygenation and nutrition plays an integral role in the same. For wound treatment, the healthcare professionals might prepare a meal plan for you in case there are any deficiencies. They will ensure that you get vitamins A and E, zinc and protein from your diet for wound healing. 

3. Preventing The Infection

Making sure that your wound doesn’t get infected is one of the most important priorities of the healthcare professionals. They will watch your wound closely to make sure that doesn’t happen. If it does, they will make a plan to treat the infection at the earliest.  

You should watch out for the following signs of infection: 

• Increased drainage or drainage that has a bad smell
• Continuous bleeding
• Frail tissue around the wound
• Increased pain or cellulitis
• Fever and chills

If an infection is not treated or taken care of, it can end up becoming fatal for you and thus it is important to monitor the same.

4. Maintaining Coverings and Hygiene 

Proper care, covering and bandaging of the wound is important to ensure that infection doesn’t set in. It is important to change bandages regularly and to ensure that the wound is cleaned often. Cleaning the wound is important because it removes dead tissue and bacteria. 

5. Choosing The Right Treatment

In case you have a wound that requires constant monitoring, treatment or maintenance then you should consider hiring help for the same or staying in a treatment facility. It is possible for you to get the best treatment options for wound care by seeking professional help.

In case your wound doesn’t heal properly, it is to do with underlying issues that you may have. These issues could be health issues, medications, lifestyle factors or other ongoing treatments. Healthcare professionals will check these factors before proceeding with the wound care treatment. 

Following are the factors that affect wound healing: 

1 .Health Issues

If you have a chronic health issue such as Diabetes, Cancer, Pulmonary disease, Heart conditions, Thyroid issues or GI diseases, it can reduce your body’s ability to heal. To ensure that your wound heals properly, healthcare professionals first need to get these health issues under control. This also makes it very important to let your doctors and nurses know about your medical history so that they can go ahead with the best course of treatment. 

2. Other Medications and Treatments

Medications such as steroids or anti-inflammatory drugs have an effect on wound healing. Even treatments such as Chemo and radiation tend to break down the body’s defense mechanisms and this can slow down or stop the process of wound healing. Thus, it is important to let the doctors or nurses know if you are undergoing any of these treatments or if you are on some other medications. 

3. Lifestyle Factors

There are several lifestyle factors and habits that can affect wound healing. These include factors like Malnutrition, Obesity, Drug use, Alcoholism and Smoking. Each of these factors is considered when the medical staff decide the best course of wound care treatment for you and thus it is important for you to let them know about these habits.

Like mentioned earlier, wound care is important because it prevents infections, helps speed up the healing process and ensures that there is less scarring. Here are some more details about the same: 

1. Infection Prevention

Because wound care involves cleaning the wound, covering the wound with dressings and bandages, the risk of infection reduces greatly. A health professional will make sure that the dressing is changed regularly, he/she will keep track of the bleeding, discharge, smell, temperature and will keep a lookout for an infection, thus greatly reducing the risk of the same. Wounds are cleaned with disinfectants and clean/saline water which also prevents an infection. 

2. Speeds Healing 

Some people believe that a wound heals faster if left uncovered. This is not true. In fact covering the wound speeds the healing process and it also has the added benefit of protecting against an infection. 

3. Minimizes Scarring 

To ensure that you are left with minimum scars, it is important to keep the wound soft so that hard scabs do not form on it. Antibiotic ointments, if prescribed by your doctor, can help with keeping the skin around the wound very soft. Once the wound has healed and the risk of infection is out of the way, you can use vitamin E oil, aloe vera gel, or petroleum jelly instead of the antibiotic ointment. Massaging the area of the wound once it heals can also prevent the skin from around the wound from becoming thick. 

Wound healing is a long and complex process and it is important to take proper care during the various stages to avoid any complications in your health and wellbeing.

First Response Healthcare (FRH) is a JCI accredited home healthcare company that provides a range of services for your physical well being right in the comfort of your home. FRH has received the Gold Seal of Approval from the Joint Commission International Standards for Home Healthcare for implementing international healthcare quality standards in its services. FRH has a team of highly trained, qualified and licensed home nurses and doctors who can provide excellent wound care in Dubai right in your home. Our nursing staff is trained to provide appropriate care for every type of wound.

Our team of nurses will first understand the type of the wound and its severity, and depending on what you need, they will provide regular wound dressing and wound care to speed the healing process. Our medical staff also has training in how to provide specialized care for chronic or non-healing wounds. Our team of nurses are trained in offering the best of services for wound dressing, pain management and medical care required to manage complications, if any.  FRH’s nursing services in Dubai are designed to ensure that you get personalized, specialized care that fits with your clinical needs and requirements. 

Hiring home nursing services can ensure that you get the care, help and attention that you need while recovering. Support from our dedicated team of home nursing professionals can help a comfortable and speedy recovery. Our Home care nurses also provide tips and advice on how to make lifestyle changes that can help in recovery and healing. Wound dressing, medication and health of the patient, all will be taken care of by our home nursing staff who are trained to excel in wound care. 

• You can book home nursing service as per your requirement – Daily visits or 24×7 cover
• Our team of nurses are licensed, experienced and capable of offering the best care at home 
• Treatment and follow-ups done with personalized attention

• Post-Operative Care
• Palliative care
• Geriatric (Elderly) Care
• Maternity & New-born care 
• Child Care & Babysitting.

• Post Discharge Care: Our nurses provide dedicated 24×7 care and execute the Care Plan and do continuous monitoring of the clinical condition to ensure a good recovery.
• Wound Care: Our nursing staff is qualified and fully trained to provide wound care with best infection control practices for complex and hard to heal wounds.
• Elderly Care: Our home nursing professionals are trained to assist elderly patients who need special medical care and/or assisted daily living. 
• Patient Education: Our nursing staff will also provide you with continuous patient and family education right in your home. 
• Duration of Nursing Care: This depends on the needs of the patient and can be carried out from daily visits through to 24/7 continuity of care.
• Only DHA Nurses Deployed: All our nursing staff is licensed, trained and experienced to monitor and manage your condition. 
• General & Specialized Home Care Nursing: We tweak our services as per your requirements, where we take care of timely medications and health monitoring.

To avail services of wound care in Dubai, all you need to do is call on 0505050387 or 800DIALDOC. You can also book an online appointment by visiting https://firstresponse.ae/