Sterile Dressing Change

Preparation:

  • Check physician's order
  • Assess patient's need for pain medication prior to procedure
  • Check patient's dressing for supplies needed
  • Gather supplies
  • Plan how you will do the procedure before you start!

Applying a Sterile Dressing

After setting up the sterile field, don procedure gloves for removing the old dressing and cleaning the wound (as long as procedure gloves do not touch anything wet)
Using procedure gloves
After cleaning the incision and drain site; remove procedure gloves, double-check that you have everything you will need for reaplying the dressing and don sterile gloves.

Using sterile gloves

Points to keep in mind:

  • Plan ahead
  • Note that you can touch the drain as long as you are not going back to the incision
  • The dirtiest part of a wound is generally the normal flora of the skin