The effect of the weather and other environmental factors on the performance of surgical dressings
Thomas, S.
Wounds a Compendium of Clinical Research and Practice 24(12): 335-338
2012
ISSN/ISBN: 1044-7946 PMID: 25876217 Document Number: 659659
Despite the fact that, globally, surgical dressings are used under very different environmental conditions, most wound care professionals are unaware of the effects of varying temperature and relative humidity on certain key aspects of dressing performance. In particular, both these parameters can have a marked effect upon the moisture vapor transmission rate of dressings which incorporate a semipermeable film or membrane within their structure. This paper describes the use of an online calculator, the development of which has been described previously, to illustrate for the first time how changes in the weather might affect the ability of a dressing to cope with the exudate produced by an exuding wound. The results suggest that, under certain conditions, dressing permeability may fall to about 30% of experimentally determined values with potentially important consequences for wear times and treatment costs.