Dressing
A sterile or clean covering applied to a wound to protect it from contamination, absorb exudate, maintain moisture balance, and promote healing.
Dressing-change items usually test sequence and sterility: when a client has multiple wounds, clean the least contaminated wound first and the most contaminated last, and remove the old dressing wearing clean gloves, then switch to sterile gloves before applying the new one. The classic “tell” is a wound with sloughy or dry necrotic tissue — the answer hinges on autolytic debridement with a moisture-retentive dressing (hydrogel for dry eschar, hydrocolloid for light-to-moderate drainage, alginate or foam for heavy exudate). For NPWT, watch for the stop-and-hold trap: bright-red bleeding or a machine alarming means stop suction and assess, not “reinforce and continue.”
Students confuse the goals of related basics. Hygiene maintains intact skin and is the moment you assess for breakdown; a dressing manages an existing wound. Comfort addresses subjective pain — premedicate roughly 30 minutes before a painful change, timed to the drug’s peak. Memory hook: “wet-to-dry is out” — gauze packing is nonselective mechanical debridement, not for routine clean or granulating wounds (some older question banks still default to it).
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