Quality standard
Quality statement 5: Information and advice on wound care
Quality statement 5: Information and advice on wound care
Quality statement
People having surgery and their carers receive information and advice on wound and dressing care, including how to recognise problems with the wound and who to contact if they are concerned.
Rationale
Appropriate wound and dressing care promotes healing and reduces the risk of infection. Providing information and advice on this to people having surgery and their carers will reduce the risk of them doing something to the wound or dressing that might contaminate the site with microorganisms unnecessarily. If a person develops a surgical site infection, early treatment is essential to prevent the infection getting worse. Providing information on how to recognise problems with a wound and who to contact if they are concerned should lead to prompt treatment for those who need it and reduce infection-related morbidity.
Quality measures
The following measures can be used to assess the quality of care or service provision specified in the statement. They are examples of how the statement can be measured, and can be adapted and used flexibly.
Structure
Evidence of local arrangements to ensure that people having surgery and their carers receive information and advice on wound and dressing care, including how to recognise problems with the wound and who to contact if they are concerned.
Data source: Local data collection.
Process
Proportion of surgical procedures for which the person having surgery and their carers receive information and advice on wound and dressing care, including how to recognise problems with the wound and who to contact if they are concerned.
Numerator – the number in the denominator for which the person having surgery and their carers receive information and advice on wound and dressing care, including how to recognise problems with the wound and who to contact if they are concerned.
Denominator – the number of surgical procedures.
Data source: Local data collection.
What the quality statement means for different audiences
Service providers ensure that protocols are in place to provide people having surgery and their carers with information and advice on wound and dressing care, including how to recognise problems with the wound and who to contact if they are concerned.
Healthcare professionals provide people having surgery and their carers with information and advice on wound and dressing care, including how to recognise problems with the wound and who to contact if they are concerned.
Commissioners commission services from service providers that can demonstrate that they have protocols to provide people having surgery and their carers with information and advice on wound and dressing care, including how to recognise problems with the wound and who to contact if they are concerned.
People having an operation and their carers are given information and advice about how to look after the wound when they go home, how to recognise problems with the wound and who to contact if they are concerned about it.
Source guidance
Surgical site infections: prevention and treatment. NICE guideline NG125 (2019), recommendations 1.1.2 and 1.1.3
Equality and diversity considerations
Information should be both age-appropriate and culturally appropriate. It should also be accessible to people with additional needs such as physical, sensory or learning disabilities, and to people who do not speak or read English. People having surgery and their carers or parents should have access to an interpreter or advocate if needed.