The elephant in the room
Thank you for publishing the article on racism by Deborah Roberts ("The Elephant in the Room," December 2020). I respect the author for initiating the article and naming the problem so well, and for all the content on which she educated me and other nurses. I also respect the editorial staff for featuring this article on the front cover. I am grateful to the author and the staff for addressing racism in nursing.
-BETH FURLONG, MS, MA, PhD, JD, RN
Omaha, Neb.
Back to the basics
Consider this brief story: A patient I'll call Mr. S had a wound on his right lower extremity covered with a dressing. Mr. S's doctor requested a wound care consult, and my colleague and I saw the patient on our morning rounds. As I started to remove the dressing so I could assess the wound, I saw that gauze was adhering to the wound. I soaked the dressing with sterile normal saline solution to loosen it and avoid traumatizing the healing tissue. As I gently removed the dressing, Mr. S threw his hands up in the air and exclaimed, "Now I know that you really are an expert! Everyone else just pulled the dressing off to look at it."
In the patient's eyes, the simple act of soaking a dressing that had adhered to a wound elevated me to the level of expert. This reminded me of some important lessons that all nurses caring for patients with wounds should keep in mind:
* Do no harm.
* Minimize pain during wound care assessment and dressing changes.
* Soak gauze dressings that have adhered to a wound with sterile saline before removing them.
* If possible, use nonadherent dressings that will not stick to wounds. Place a nonadherent dressing directly over the wound and then cover it with a gauze dressing to wick any drainage.1 Nonadherent dressings are fenestrated to let fluid pass through.
MARIE T. AGRELL-KANN, MS, RN, CDE, CWCN
Seaford, N.Y.
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