Dressing use issues in primary abdominal wounds: a qualitative study of health staff and patient views

Primary surgical abdominal wounds are usually covered with a dressing. However, little is known about the practical issues and costs around these dressings. This study aimed to provide an in-depth description of patients' and health professionals' perspectives on the clinical and practical issues associated with standard and novel dressing (glue-as-a-dressing) use on primary surgical wounds, and to establish whether and how their experience compares with these perspectives. During semi-structured interviews, patients and health professionals discussed their positive experience of glue-as-a-dressing and no dressing around six themes: wound contamination and infection, wound healing, wound care, physical protection afforded by simple dressings, the potential psychological impact of an exposed wound, and ability to carry out everyday tasks. Current views on the practice of dressings for primary abdominal wounds are influenced by ingrained clinical practice. These views can be challenged when exposed to novel dressing strategies or as new evidence of the clinical effect of dressing strategies emerges.