Changing a dressing: The nurse's experience

Wounds and wound care have been part of the human condition from earliest history. Wounds are characteristically painful, primarily at dressing change. The impetus for this project was the observation that nurses, who are the main care providers of chronic wounds, continue to ignore or minimize pain, despite the fact that pain has a negative impact on wound healing. In addition to the literature supporting the value of pain management, pain rating scales, analgesia and non-traumatizing dressings are readily available and yet not routinely accessed by practitioners during dressing changes.;This study evolved from the desire to better understand the meaning of providing wound care for nurses across the continuum of care. A hermeneutic phenomenological approach was used to develop an understanding of what changing a dressing means to nurses. Eighteen registered nurses with a minimum of one year's experience in providing wound care participated in this study, to reflect the reality of the work environment across the health care continuum of hospital, community and long-term care settings. Each nurse participated in tape-recorded, open-ended interviews which provided rich data for interpretation.;The voices of the nurses in this study provide perspectives on the wound itself, the world beyond the wound (time, environment and relationships) and the hands-on meaning of changing a dressing. This study may contribute to further understanding of nurses' work as it presents an intimate view of what nurses think and feel about what they do.