| Abstrakt: |
Malodour malignant fungating wounds with profuse exudate are particularly difficult to manage. The "unpleasant sight" and "smell" are distressful to patients and their families, and has negative psychological impact on patients. This is especially so in an outpatient setting where patients and families have to learn to co-manage their wounds. The main aim of managing this type of wounds is to promote optimum patient comfort by controlling exudate, odour and pain associated with the lesion. If patients are able to manage their wounds effectively at home, it would have positive impact on them psychologically. From a wound care nurse clinical experience, a study to use green tea bags as secondary dressing was conducted. The objectives are to: --Assess the effectiveness of green tea bags in controlling odour from fungating breast wounds. --Determine the optimal frequency of green tea bags changed that is effective in controlling odour. --Determine the weight of exudate absorbed by the green tea bag. Patients attending the wound clinic who met the criteria were recruited into the study. Results indicated that the patients were satisfied as the use of green tea bags effectively controls the exudate and malodour. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
