With the explosion of new technologies in wound care the wound care clinician can have a tendency to overlook the importance of wound dressings. This includes how dressing function contributes to healing. Ever since George Winter discovered the importance of moist wound healing in the early 1960’s, thousands of wound dressings have entered the market. This abundance makes dressing selection confusing for wound care providers. Categorization of wound dressings as it is done today makes dressing selection complicated.  CMS’s Surgical Dressing Reimbursement policy categorizes wound dressings by the highest percentage of ingredient (substrate) in the dressing, regardless of the function.  This categorization by substrate, and not by the dressing function, may limit a dressing’s full potential benefits.  Manufacturers of new advanced dressings with combinations of substrates or new ingredients lack the knowledge, funding, or ability to apply for a new product category, thus limiting innovation in dressing technology.  Even with these limitations, clinicians have options, but we need a process to categorize dressings other than by substrate. Detriments of improper dressing selection and the importance following manufacturer guidelines will be discussed.  Finally, building a formulary with the greatest versatility will be reviewed.

Nurse Learner Outcome: At the conclusion of this education activity participants will report a knowledge gain of the options for wound dressings..

Learner Objectives:

1. Explain how improper dressing categorization can impact outcomes.
2. Recall the 3 wound assessments that drive wound dressing selection.
3. Discuss the functional abilities of wound dressings and how they match present clinical goals.
4. Describe the importance of following manufacturers package inserts for wound dressings as well as for CTPs and adjunctive modalities.
5. Recall the importance of developing a versatile product formulary for your specific practice.