CW Ho, CH Yeung, WF Ho, Hester YS Cheung, Cliff CC Chung, Civy SK Leung, Michael KW Li. Department of Surgery, Pamela Youde Nethersole Eastern Hospital
Introduction
In nursing practice, a comprehensive wound assessment includes details like dimension; nature of discharge; wound bed condition and wound pain. However, this is not always feasible for semi-opened wounds with angled undermining or inaccessible spaces. With the advent of endoscopy in the surgical field, the idea of woundoscopy is devised to facilitate both wound assessment and management.
Concept and Indications
The concept of the woundoscopy is comprised of the “endoscopy” and “wound management”. Woundoscopy allows direct access and visualization of deep wounds. Not only it can be used as a diagnostic tool in deep obscured wounds with suspected presence of foreign body, but it is also indicated as an interventional procedure to facilitate positioning of draining catheters in complicated wounds.
Procedure
Woundoscopy is performed using the 5mm-diameter endoscope. Before the procedure, the patient is prepared for an appropriate position. The wound, including the skin opening, are cleansed by antiseptics; while the endoscope is dis-infected by the Cidex OPA. Woundoscopy is performed with insertion of the endoscope through the wound opening, and the image is transmitted and magnified on the LED monitor.
Conclusion
Woundoscopy is an emerging innovative nursing practice on wound management in Hong Kong. It is a leading advance in the field on wound management. For complicated wounds seen in advanced nursing practice, woundoscopy should be employed for better understanding and management of wounds
Session: Poster
Program Number: P468
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