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: This article is part of a series, Supporting Family Caregivers: No Longer Home Alone, published in collaboration with the AARP Public Policy Institute. Results of focus groups, conducted as part of the AARP Public Policy Institute's No Longer Home Alone video project, supported evidence that family caregivers aren't given the information they need to manage the complex care regimens of family members. This series of articles and accompanying videos aims to help nurses provide caregivers with the tools they need to manage their family member's health care at home.The articles in this new installment of the series provide simple and useful instructions that nurses should reinforce with family caregivers who perform wound care tasks. Each article also includes an informational tear sheet-Information for Family Caregivers-that contains links to instructional videos. To use this series, nurses should read the article first, so they understand how best to help family caregivers, and then encourage caregivers to watch the videos and ask questions. For additional information, see Resources for Nurses.

Biofilm is a thin layer containing masses of microorganisms; it has a gelatinous protective cover that is capable of attaching to virtually any surface. A wound provides the perfect medium for the growth of bacteria. In a wound, the organisms in the biofilm can obtain nutrients more easily than when they live on their own, and they are protected from many of the insults of daily life. This article will focus on these microorganisms and their ability to protect the colony against all attempts to remove it and the problems biofilm creates within a wound.

Wound care is expensive and can cause immeasurable stress and inconvenience to patients and their significant others. It is therefore in the best interest of the patient, their significant others and the NHS as a whole that wounds are expertly assessed, managed and healed in the quickest timeframe possible. Nurses play a pivotal role in the process of accurate holistic wound assessment, evaluation and treatment. This article aims to help further develop and enhance both professional and clinical wound care assessment and evaluation skills. Pertinent wound care literature is critically reviewed and the crucial nature and important components of comprehensive wound assessment for facilitating the highest possible quality wound care to patients are presented alongside recommendations regarding how the enhanced knowledge and skills could be applied into everyday wound care practice.

There are occasions when patients present with wounds where the aetiology is unknown. Planning care for these patients is dependent on the wound assessment and treating the clinical symptoms for example infection. Wound infection is often regarded as a challenging problem for clinicians and a considerable financial burden for the NHS (Patel, 2009). From a patient perspective, wound infection presents with unpleasant symptoms such as increased exudate, pain, swelling and malodour (Barrett et al, 2010). The introduction of antibiotics in the late 1940s and 1950s had a huge impact on the control of bacterial infections, however recently due to bacterial resistance, topical antimicrobials such as honey are starting to regain their appeal in the treatment of wound infection (Van der Weyden, 2003; Moffatt, 2006). The aim of this case study is to demonstrate how a honey dressing was used to treat an infected wound of unknown aetiology.

A university diploma in wounds and healing is now open to state-qualified nurses. They must manage the pain when removing the dressing and adapt the dressing, treat the infection, encourage the progression of the granulation and take charge of the compression. New information transfer tools such as remote assistance are increasingly being used to avoid patients having to travel to a clinic and to reinforce the complementary skills offered by nurses and experts.

There is a growing body of literature promoting the use of honey-based products in wound care, demonstrating their efficacy, cost-effectiveness and excellent record of safety. Thus, there has been a sizeable renaissance in the use of honey as a topical treatment for a wide range of wounds. This resurgence has brought an array of new honey-based wound products into the market place. Honey for the purposes of wound management has to be 'medical grade', which ensures that it has been sterilized by gamma irradiation and has a standardized antibacterial activity--only these honeys can be registered as medical devices. Hence, practitioners should exercise caution before using any unregulated unlicensed honey product as a treatment for wounds. This article provides healthcare practitioners with the information they need to make a considered decision when choosing between honey-based products. It highlights the importance of established clinical evidence in demonstrating the therapeutic properties of honey and supporting the use of honey-based products in the management of wounds. The practitioner needs to consider the written information provided by manufacturers as to the clinical evidence base of the product, indications and contraindications for use and safety of the product.

Many wounds seen by nurses will involve infection and colonisation. To enable nurses to correly assess and manage these wounds, infection and colonisation are explained and options for management discussd.

This paper describes the techniques used to manage a complex foot wound in a patient with ankylosing spondylitis. Several methods were used initially to promote wound healing, but after some weeks progress ceased, requiring a review of the methods applied. Management was continued using a new approach to chronic wound care, resulting in complete healing.

An infectious diseases unit is potentially an ideal environment in which to carry out research into honey-based dressings. This article looks at the barriers to carrying out case study-based research, and describes the treatment of an elderly gentleman with venous leg ulcers. The patient's wounds improved with the honey-based dressing, but it failed to free the wound of microbes. One possible explanation is that the honey, instead of killing the microbes, actually provided them with a food source.

The management and treatment of infection is a complex and important area in tissue viability nursing. Andrew Kingsley discusses the value of microbiology to clinical practice and the importance of adopting a proactive approach to the management of infected wounds using an infection continuum and algorithm to help promote effective care.