Top dressings tips

I attended a meeting held by the RCVS with representatives from the Veterinary Defence Society who warned that dressings can be problematic in terms of complaints and litigation.

I’ll be totally honest here: I don’t like doing dressings.

I was talking to Laura the other day (one of our team of fantastic RVNs) and, because she’s excellent at dressing wounds (her skills easily surpass mine), I thought I’d ask for her “top tips” on the subject.

Expert advice

Laura’s words of wisdom were:

• The right materials are key – she prefers cotton wool for Robert Jones type dressings.
• Think of the pressure points in advance – how is the limb going to move (or not move) under the dressing with even pressure. Good to pad between the toes, and so on.
• Ideally, leave the toes out so regular checks can be made to make sure no problems are occurring.

Of course, a compliant caregiver at home really helps too.