I know it's used in hospitals to prep the skin for an IV, but is it used on open wounds too? Would I use it any time I would hydrogen perioxide, to clean minor wounds?

It can be used interchangably with alcohol for wound care. In prehospital setting alcohol and peroxide is prefered because they don't stain clothing and there is no allergies to them (biggest problem with iodine). Operating rooms and blood culture obtaining iodine is used while pretty much for everything else alcohol is no 1 choice.

This is an interesting argument about using one versus another:
http://allnurses.com/forums/f8/iv-site-prep-87803.html

Quite honestly it doesnt matter if you use alcohol or iodine but either or is better than peroxide althou much more painful.

Still though is the fact that soap and water are still the way to go.....won't damage tissue....will clean the wound. IMHO it is the way to go.....

Matt:
Double checking... Did you mean to indicate that alcohol is o.k. for surface/area prep.. or did you mean it is o.k. to introduce to clean OUT a wound? Clean around, vs. irrigate. I may be wrong, but I didn't think you'd want to irrigate a wound with alcohol.

Best thing to clean out a wound is sterile saline, followed by sterile water, followed by potable water.

Peroxide, Alcohol, Betadine, iodine all exhibit some degree of tissue toxicity, may damage healthy cells & retard wound healing.

For most cuts & scrapes - plain old soap & water works just fine.

In the hospital - you use betadine to prep INTACT SKIN - it is not used to clean wounds (some people do use an extremely weak solution to irrigate w/, but this doesn't really do anything more than irrigating w/ saline). Peroxide - not used commonly in most hospital areas. I occasionaly use it to dissolve old blood/exudate around wounds so I can see them better - never use it in a wound.

YMMV

Sam

I guess that was part of my reason for asking. I've seen the povidone iodine wipes and ampules, and thought that would be more portable for kit use when space might be an issue. Maybe not the best solution to wound cleaning, but better than not cleaning at all. Would that be a correct assessment? <img src="/images/graemlins/confused.gif" alt="" />

This seems to be the concensus, but for the moderately small PSK where space is at a premium – and assuming worst-case...no water available (let alone sterile) – what is recommended carry for wound care; ideally, something that comes packaged in a small, single-use packet, or a small multi-use container. At the moment, in my PSK, I've got three alcohol swabs, and three individual packets of povidone iodine.

The wisdom here suggests not a good idea, at least for my intended purpose.

Irrigation by saline or destilled water is the best way of cleaning out the wound. Minor scrapes and cuts can be cleaned out with iodine and alcohol. Burns only get water or sailine. Iodine becomes a problem if somebody is allergic to it. Althou I regullary see use of iodine to clean up a slash wounds (hospital) it does follow the irrigation by saline first. I personally have no problem with using it on abrassions or any smaller wound.

The thing is that we have space problem and if you can carry enough water to irrigate the wound than you have nothing to worry about. Unfortunatelly due to space limitations I personally dont have a comfort of carrying bottle of saline and bottle of destilled water and bottle of betadine. Sterrile trauma dressing and bleading control is all you get before transport. Unless your wouldn is small enough that alcohol wipes I have wll clean it up.

Ors:

A while back I posted this information on Betadine and when to use it. The actual post was an older post referring to closing a wound in the field, but the info on Betadine is the main reason I posted.

Hope this helps you.

Take care,

Stargazer

ASAP = Always Suspicious, Always Prepared

Yall get way too bent out of shape about betadine/saline/water etc.

Although there are theoretical differences, in the real world, saline vs water doesn't really matter when all is said and done, and getting full strength betadine in an open wound is not the end of the world requiring amputation. <img src="/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

When I did my emergency room training for my EMT course, they soaked everything in a mixture of hydrogen peroxide & betadine. One guy had multiple lacerations in his hand from rusted jagged metal. The nurses had him soak in the mixture, then they rinsed his hand with sterile water so the doctor could see to do the stitches.

Wound Care Basics:
Please take a first aid course or paramedic/EMT course to get proper training.

Wound irrigation - aim is to get debris, pus out of the wound. Chlorhexidine solution > Saline > sterile water > iodine > clean boiled water. NEVER irrigate with alcohol. It will DENATURE the wound tissues and destroy the cell wall.

Skin Prep (intact skin)- blood culture / surgery Alcohol is used to kill the bacteria. Iodine is used to kill fungal spores. So in a blood culture, you would clean with alcohol / chlorhexidine then clean again with providone iodine.

Skin Scrapes/ cuts - Chlorhexidine > Saline > Sterile water > iodine > clean water

Skin scapes using small packaged First Aid items - Chlorhexidine / Cetrimide wipes (Europlast) , Benzalkonium Chloride wipes (Triad Antideptic towelette), Providone Iodine wipes (Triad brand)