Review Article / Emergency Medicine and Trauma Care Journal
by Gerry L. Klein and Peter C. Johnson, MedSurgPI, LLC
Abstract: Simple traumatic wounds are a frequent event that can usually be managed without sequelae, unless the wound is of high risk. High risk wounds have a greater propensity to become infected and complicated. Such wounds are characterized by a specific type of wound (i.e. jagged), location of the wound (i.e. lower leg); and patient’s underlying medical condition (i.e: diabetes).If these wounds become infected, they have a negative impact on morbidity, mortality, quality of life, and costs. The take-away should be a wake-up call to physicians specifically and healthcare professionals more broadly that a much more aggressive and effective treatment regimen to prevent wounds from becoming infected is required. Such a regimen should likely include a comprehensive understanding of wound types, the degrees of microbial contamination, and novel ways to prevent infections through wound debridement and irrigation.