Standardised Protocols Needed for Use of Honey as Antibacterial Dressing

Choosing an Appropriate Antibacterial Dressing
Nursing Times, 2006 Oct 31-Nov 6;102(44):46, 48-9

The number of different wound dressings has increased considerably in recent years and this has made selecting a dressing for a specific wound more complicated. A variety of concepts have been devised to structure and simplify the process involved in selecting a wound dressing, including the concept of wound bed preparation (WBP).

WBP was first described by Falanga (2000) and Sibbald et al (2000). Falanga (2000) explained that the concept was needed because ‘even the most advanced and sophisticated products require proper wound care and wound bed preparation’. Without adequate preparation of the wound bed it is likely that any product (which may well be expensive) will fail and the clinician will lose confidence in its efficacy…

There are a wide range of antimicrobial dressings available that contain different antimicrobial agents, including silver, iodine and honey…

Types of antimicrobial dressings

Honey

Most research carried out on honey has focused on the role of manuka honey, which, like most honeys, releases hydrogen peroxide but is also believed to have an additional antimicrobial agent known as the unique manuka factor (UMF) (Gethin and Cowman, 2005). It is widely claimed that honey is able to deodorise and debride wounds and these additional properties may be particularly beneficial in infected wounds. There are no standardised protocols for the frequency with which honey should be applied and the type of secondary dressing that should be used (Gethin and Cowman, 2005)…