Care of the open wound in abdominal sepsis

A recent development in the treatment of patients with intra-abdominal sepsis is to leave the abdomen open after the first laparotomy, thus presenting nurses with the problem of adequate wound care. Over the past 10 years, nurses in the surgical intensive care unit at University Hospital Rotterdam have developed an improved wound-dressing routine, consisting of the application of a large surgical film dressing over the entire abdominal wound. Two suction catheters are positioned under the film, and these are connected to a low-vacuum suction system (1-2kPa) to allow wound drainage. The effectiveness of this method was evaluated in 12 patients. The overall results showed that patients needed a change of dressing once every six days and the majority of problems related to the traditional method of wound care were overcome.