Paulo is currently a Specialist nurse in community care and tissue viability, ostomy, continence and wound care and holds a Master’s degree in Wound Management and Tissue Viability and a Postgraduate degree in Advanced Wound, Ostomy, and Incontinence Care.

He is the Vice-President of APTFeridas (Portuguese Wound care association), member of the Pressure Ulcer Working Group and a Board member of the European Wound Management Association (EWMA) and chair of the association’s education committee.

Presentation at Reducing the risk of surgical wound complications: Best practice approaches in surgical wound care study day

The use of topical antimicrobial therapies for Infected surgical wounds

Abstract

Infected surgical wounds remain one of the most frequent hospital-acquired infections. It not only extends hospital stays and drives up healthcare costs, but can also cause serious complications or even result in death. Among the various preventive approaches, selecting and applying antiseptics appropriately is considered a critical measure. Antiseptics are not only applicable for prevention but with the increasing of antibiotic resistance, they acquired a pivotal role for management of infected surgical wounds, alone or combined with systemic antibiotics. The presentation aimed to review the topical antiseptic options for approaching infected surgical wounds, based on the best available evidence, combine with clinical practice. The variety of options in terms of antiseptic solutions for surgical infected wounds can be confusing when clinicians need to choose. To avoid misuse, antimicrobial stewardship policies are required in order to underpin the clinical guidance for selecting topical antiseptics.

When used appropriately on infected surgical wounds, topical antiseptics can significantly improve a patient’s healing process and overall quality of life. This can lead to reduced pain and faster recovery. Additionally, using the right antiseptics helps improve patient safety and lowers treatment costs.

The best way to choose an antiseptic is to consider both its availability and scientific evidence of its effectiveness and efficiency.