Surgical ward work and nursing : a handbook for nurses and others / by Alexander Miles.

Date:
1911
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Surgical ward work and nursing : a handbook for nurses and others / by Alexander Miles. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

    56/440 (page 44)
    between the wound and the gauze, and that most commonly used is Lister's oi7ed silk or gree7i pi-otective. As we have ah'eady seen, this is not antiseptic, and it requires to be soaked in lysol or carbolic to render it germ-free. The surgeon cuts off a piece of suitable size and shape, dips it in saline solution to remove the antiseptic, and applies it to the wound. Oiled silk should be perforated to allow of the escape of any discharge from the wound into the absorbent gauze. Wet Dressing.—Though moist swabs, such as were men- tioned above, are applied to a wound, they soon become dry, unless special means are used to prevent evaporation. For this purpose a layer of gutta-percha tissue, unperforated green protective, or mackintosh is placed over them. The layer must be larger than the dressing, and overlap it at least half an inch all round. This forms a wet dressing, fomentation, or soak. When it is used for an open wound, perforated green protective may again be applied under the dressing. A valuable antiseptic fomentation or soak may be made with plain gauze or lint wrung out of ichthyol lotion, or with boracic lint moistened with saline solution. It is doubtful if a carbolic fomentation should ever be used. Certainly it should never be applied to a finger or toe, owing to the frequency with which it produces gangrene. Corrosive should never be used as a wet dressing because the mercury is absorbed from the skin into the body. Cotton-Wool.—Next comes the cotton-wool. It maybe plain absorbent wool previously sterilized by steam, or cor- rosive or other antiseptic wool. In either case it should be ■wrapped in a sterilized towel. The wool has been previously cut into large, thick squares, which are not, however, applied ■directly to the wound ; always split it up so as to get a fresh surface. The object in thus splitting up the wool is three- fold: (r) That a fresh surface, on which no dust or germs may have landed, is put next the wound ; (2) that the wool may lie in more accurate apposition with the surface, so that it will not slip, and expose the wound to the air; and {3) that the wool, being loose and porous, will readily soak up the discharge, and not cake and form a hard, imperme- able layer next the wound.