Treating patients with painful chronic wounds.

ABSTRACT

Painful chronic wounds have long been treated with dressings that provide moist wound healing. This moist environment, through limiting the exposure of nerve ends, ensures some pain relief. A foam dressing presents a new option for nurses treating chronic painful wounds. It combines the benefits of moist wound healing with a continuous release of ibuprofen into the wound and surrounding skin that is designed to reduce pain. This article describes this dressing, presents some of the clinical evidence to support its use and proposes a four-step wound pain management model.