A clinic's guide to wound dressing types

Wound care product catalogs run to hundreds of pages, but nearly everything falls into six categories. Knowing the categories makes stocking a small clinic much simpler.

Gauze

Woven or non-woven cotton, sterile or non-sterile, in squares, rolls and abdominal pads. Inexpensive and versatile but absorbs modestly and can adhere to a wound bed. Every clinic stocks it; most stock more than they need.

Film

Thin, transparent, adhesive polyurethane sheets. Waterproof and breathable, they let staff see the site without removing the dressing. They don't absorb, so they're used where there's little drainage or as a cover over another dressing.

Foam

Soft polyurethane pads that absorb moderate to heavy drainage and cushion the site. Available bordered (with an adhesive edge) or non-bordered, and increasingly with silicone adhesive that removes gently. Foam is the workhorse of most outpatient wound care.

Hydrocolloid

Gel-forming particles in an adhesive wafer. On contact with drainage they form a gel that maintains a moist environment. They're occlusive and can stay in place for several days, which reduces dressing changes.

Alginate

Fibers derived from seaweed that absorb large amounts of drainage and form a gel. Supplied as pads or rope, they require a secondary dressing to hold them in place.

Hydrogel

Water- or glycerin-based gels, in sheets or tubes, that donate moisture rather than absorb it. Used where a wound is dry.

Stocking a small clinic

Most practices that see wounds occasionally can cover their needs with sterile gauze, a bordered silicone foam in two sizes, a film dressing and one hydrocolloid. Dedicated wound care practices carry all six categories in multiple sizes. Every sterile dressing carries a lot number and expiry date; both should be recorded at check-in and rotated so older stock is used first.

ClinicSupply US ships wound care with lot and expiry printed on the packing list so check-in takes minutes. Browse the wound care catalog.