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Background: There is a consensus that wound cleansing reduces infection rates. There is, however, some debate in clinical circles about the potential advantages and disadvantages of cleansing wounds. Objectives: To identify and synthesize the best available evidence on the effectiveness of cleansing solutions for wound treatment. Review method: This systematic review followed the Joanna Briggs Institute methodology and included studies that considered patients with chronic and acute wounds. Critical appraisal, extraction and synthesis of data were performed by two independent reviewers. Results: Three randomized clinical trials (n=718) were included and the results of the meta-analysis showed no difference in the wound infection for the Tap Water versus Sterile Saline comparison (OR=0,79; 95% Cl= 0,36-1,72; p=0,55). For acute wounds, the odds ratio was 0,98 (95% CI= 0,43-2,25). Conclusion: There is no evidence that using tap water to cleanse acute and chronic wounds in adults increases infection or healing rates. There may be a trend towards a lower wound infection rate when povidone-iodine is used in surgical wounds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: There is a consensus that wound cleansing reduces infection rates. There is, however, some debate in clinical circles about the potential advantages and disadvantages of cleansing wounds. Objectives: To identify and synthesize the best available evidence on the effectiveness of cleansing solutions for wound treatment. Review method: This systematic review followed the Joanna Briggs Institute methodology and included studies that considered patients with chronic and acute wounds. Critical appraisal, extraction and synthesis of data were performed by two independent reviewers. Results: Three randomized clinical trials (n=718) were included and the results of the meta-analysis showed no difference in the wound infection for the Tap Water versus Sterile Saline comparison (OR=0,79; 95% Cl= 0,36-1,72; p=0,55). For acute wounds, the odds ratio was 0,98 (95% CI= 0,43-2,25). Conclusion: There is no evidence that using tap water to cleanse acute and chronic wounds in adults increases infection or healing rates. There may be a trend towards a lower wound infection rate when povidone-iodine is used in surgical wounds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The complexities of therapeutic nursing require the adoption of clinical practice based on scientific evidence. In the context of optimization of the use of central venous catheters, there is much controversy regarding the use or not of heparin as a way to reduce the risk of obstruction. Therefore nurses should know about the best available scientific evidence in order to promote patient safety. In this context, the idea was to find out which solution (heparin or saline) is more effective in preventing obstruction of central venous catheters. We conducted a systematic literature review between 14 October 2012 and 15 January 2013, and analyzed scientific papers included in the databases MEDline with full text, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials and CINAHL Plus with Full Text presented in PubMed and EBSCOhost Web. Normal saline solution seems to be as effective as a heparinized solution with regard to catheter patency in adult patients. The scientific evidence on the subject is limited, and there is need to conduct more randomized clinical trials comparing the use of these solutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]