CLINICAL CASE STUDY DEMONSTRATING EFFECTIVE OUTPATIENT MANAGEMENT OF TRAUMATIC HAND INJURIES UTILIZING A HYDROGEL SHEET*
Clinicians: Ruth Anderson, RN, CWS and Char Wilkening, RN, CWS
Boone County Hospital, Boone, IA
ABSTRACT
Two case studies of traumatic hand injuries are presented. One patient involves a deli attendant with slicing, crushing
injuries of two digits and the second patient is a bakery worker with a crushing, tearing injury and total traumatic nail
loss of one digit.
The goals for these traumatic injuries were to provide comfort and relief, provide moist wound healing, provide a product
that was easy to use, and let the patients resume normal life activities.
These active patients healed within an average of 33 days. During the use of the wound care protocol using a glycerine-based
hydrogel sheet*, there was no evidence of infection or wound contamination in any of the wounds.
The hydrogel dressing* was effective for treatment of these wounds due to its soothing properties offering immediate pain
relief and for its cushioning, conformability, ease of use, and bacteriostatic properties.
The benefits of this dressing:
1. There was immediate pain relief, due to the soft protective gel and the complete contact of the gel to the wound
surface, with the result of eliminating essentially all other pain medication.
2. No pain was created with dressing changes because this dressing does not dry out and become stuck to the wound.
3. No infection - the bacteriostatic properties of the glycerine dressing helps prevent infection from occurring in wounds.
4. Wounds healed with minimal scar tissue –this is important for finger wounds to retain the sensitivity and dexterity for
maximum recovery and efficient use.
Conclusions -- The wounds of the two patients described were healed using a bacteriostatic glycerine gel sheet.* The benefits determined were: reduced pain, minimal/no scarring, moist healing environment, infection free wound, and total epithelialization. The fingernail re-attachment resulted in a nearly non-detectable injury after 1 year. This dressing has proven very effective for hand and finger reconstruction injuries.
We have used the glycerine-based gel sheet on more than 100 wounds of all types and we have seen exceptional scar elimination, pain relief, and simplicity of wound dressing changes. The ease of dressing changes allows the patient to perform home dressing changes as needed between clinic visits. This greatly improves the cost effectiveness of this wound care system. The wounds healed with minimal scar tissue, which gives regeneration of near normal tissue and results in maximum recovery and full use of the digits.
Presented at the15th Annual Clinical Symposium on Wound Care
October 6-8, 2000
Nashville, TN
