Dressing trolleys

Wounds are components of common injuries. Their outcome is affected by the quality of treatment and wound care. There are various treatment methods, of which dressing is usually the primary aspect of wound repair.

Factors related to dressing, which include the type of dressing, technique of application, time and condition for sterility, are directly connected to repair of wounds. One cannot turn a blind eye to the part equipment conditions play in reaching the desired result in repairing an injury.

Items needed for wound dressing include antiseptic, sterile dressing set, cleaning solutions. Others are leucoplast tape, a waste bin for safe disposal of infectious and noninfectious waste, sharp instruments and drugs in most cases. The items will be placed in a simple trolley with wheels.

The various items can pose as a limitation, and errors like the wrong placement of tools, forgetting some tools, altering sterile conditions, falling and damage to instruments are likely. These problems reflect the current occurrences in many hospitals which lead to an increase in nursing periods.

Other requirements are reduction in carefulness and swiftness, increase in effects of equipment damage and provision of poor service delivery. Wound infections are complications that affect a person’s life and also increase costs on the patient. The difference in complication width often results in mild pain at the injured area, septicemia or death in severe cases.

For proper wound dressing, the history of the injury is taken, and the examination carried out before cleaning the wound. Saline solution can serve as an alternative in wound washing. Povidone Iodine is an antibacterial solution with a broad spectrum, an alternative to treating injuries that are infected.

The process of cleaning is done using a pad covered with the solution. However, care should be applied to eliminate the remnants of cotton fibres and other materials in the wound. This prevents the spread of infections to other areas. Minor traumatic wounds should be washed using normal saline pressure, to remove necrotic tissue or discharge from the injury using a drainage syringe. Surgical methods are also applied, which involves erosion of the wound and scrubbing using a pad with Povidone Iodine.

When dressing, you need the following equipment: a table, sterile dressing set, washing solution, safety box, antiseptic, leucoplast tapes, waste bins for infectious and noninfectious garbage and bedpans. Dressing requirements in hospitals and the speed during the process, it needs two people for the various procedures, where the first will carry out the process and the other assists. Automatic trolleys used in dressing and cleaning wounds are a new invention. They are made up of two drawers which accommodate bandages, pads and shelves.

Other components include serums, povidone-iodine solution and two waste bins; one for infectious garbage and the other for noninfectious waste. Two sterilised bedpans form the trolleys. Its height is adjustable with focus on the site of the wound using a 12-volt electricity supply and dynamo.

A serum stand is placed on top of the trolley. Next is a washing solution placed on the flexible tube that crosses the peristaltic pump through the serum set. The peristaltic pump boosts serum flow speed, and if it is not needed, it halts this by pressing the foot pedal. Also, it has an eye-sensor chamber for placement of antiseptic solution, and a scrub.

The user can use this scrub on their own without touching anything, thus remaining sterile. This provides a support surface for the placement of equipment in case of emergency. A flexible tube connects the washing serum device.

Cleaning a Dressing Trolley

Before commencing any procedure, the first thing a healthcare worker must check is their immediate environment. An essential consideration to make is making sure the hospital dressing trolleys used are adequately cleaned before the equipment is gathered and after disposal of used ones. The usefulness of performing this cannot be made light of. The use of hospital-grade wipes for disinfection, cleaning surfaces like rails and legs of trolleys, can reduce pathogenic microorganisms in the environment. Nurses should always adhere to organisational guidelines and policies that deal with cleaning and disinfection of trolleys. They should also follow the manufacturer’s instructions for the use of cleaning agents.