Wound Care

+ Assessing a Wound

Every wound is different and an expert examination is important to know which ones need help and which ones can be monitored and left to allow the body to heal.

Traumatic wounds can be caused by many instances such as dog bites, car accidents, sharp objects like glass in a park. All of these carry different risks and concerns with their potential severity. Small bites may be deeper and involve sensitive structures, or have bruising that may make the site susceptible to infection. In the same thought some events can leave nasty wounds, but other damage internally may be more immediate concern if lungs or other organs are affected.

+ Planning the care of a Wound

After a total assessment of the wound, a treatment and care plan can be made. When deciding how to treat a wound many factors influence the decision including:

• Location
• Size
• How it occurred
• Infection presence
• Other damage

Based on these, the management can be time consuming and costly. Some severe wounds need surgeries to help reconstruct sites, whilst some wounds can become infected and treatment needs to be adjusted to accomodate the complications than may occur.

We always look to minimise the risks of problems to make the healing process as smooth as possible, and as a result regular assessments are critical in the wound care plan to monitor the healing progression.

+ How long does the treatment take?

Wound care is carried out by the whole team and may be led by either our nurses or vets depending on the severity of the wound, and how it heals.

Surgical wounds can often heal within 10 days of the surgery whilst traumatic wounds can vary hugely from 10days, like a surgery, to several months for the severe cases.

+ How many visits are required?

Surgical wounds, if uncomplicated will be examiend twice following the repair.

Traumatic wounds conversely may need to be seen a lot. Regular bandage changes, or assessment fo evidence of infection, will be an important element at which we assess the wound, remove any discharge and debris that builds up in healing processes, and then reapply dressings to help speed the process up.

+ How much does it cost?

A simple wound may only require antibiotics and time whilst severe wounds have the potential to cost thousands to correct. Ideally we avoid the severe situations!