title: Wound care for the plastic surgery nurse.
abstract: The plastic surgery nurse is often confronted with various acute and chronic wounds. Appropriate wound care can facilitate healing, improve quality of life, decrease pain, and improve cosmesis. Yet, with more than 5,000 products on the market today, it can be difficult to choose the appropriate product. This article reviews some of the basic principles of wound healing and patient assessment and then presents a framework from which to develop a plan of care using appropriate wound care products. Appropriate product selection based on patient assessment and clearly defined wound-healing goals can lead to improved healing and saved health care resources.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Division of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Virginia Commonwealth University Health System, Richmond, VA 23298, USA. vslucas@vcu.edu
authors.forename: Valentina S
authors.initials: VS
authors.lastname: Lucas
authors.forename: Ann W
authors.initials: AW
authors.lastname: King
mesh_terms: D006801:Humans; D008991:Monitoring, Physiologic / Q000451:nursing; D009720:Nurse Clinicians / Q000458:organization & administration*; D009730:Nursing Assessment / Q000379:methods; D011182:Postoperative Care / Q000379:methods; D019651:Plastic Surgery Procedures / Q000451:nursing*; D017592:Skin Care / Q000451:nursing*; D014945:Wound Healing; D014947:Wounds and Injuries / Q000451:nursing*