I'm Anton Hellman.

I'm Justin Morganstern.

And this is the journal jam podcast.

EM cases is part of Shremi, the Schwartz-Riseman Emergency Medicine Institute.

That's the nonprofit organization dedicated to improving EM care through high-quality research and education. The opinions expressed on this podcast are intended for general information and educational purposes only and should not be used to diagnose, treat or prevent any medical condition, nor should they be used as a substitute for medical advice from a qualified practicing physician. Unless stated otherwise, the opinions expressed by the hosts or guests are made in their individual capacity, not on behalf of the Institute nor medicine cases.

In part one and two of this three-part journal jam podcast on laceration management with Justin Morgan Stern and Haley Cochran, we covered preparation of the wound, including the question of how

late is too late for suturing lacerations. We talked about the value of irrigation, whether or not sterile gloves should

be used. We answered laceration repair questions like, does aversion matter? How do we best choose

between sutures, staples, glue, and wound closure strips? And when we should use absorbable

versus non-absorbable sutures. In this part three, we dive into the evidence around

laceration and wound aftercare, perhaps the most important part of laceration and wound

management. So can wounds get wet? Do patients need dressings? And if so, what's the best dressing?

Should they use topical antibiotics? Should we prescribed prophylactic antibiotics

for animal bites? And should we recommend particular medications and treatments to help prevent

infection and improve cosmesis like vitamin E oil, aloe vera, etc. So we've prepared the wound,

we've chosen gloves, we have it repaired, and what's left is giving the patient

some good home care instructions. So that should be pretty simple. Justin? Yeah, don't worry.

I only have five more deep dive topics left on our list. So this should be quick, no problem

at all. I will say personally, despite your statements, after care instructions have always been

a bit of a second thought to me.

When I started doing these lit searches, I started with all the stuff that we actively do, the exciting stuff, sutures, irrigations, stuff that seems more interesting than our home care instructions.

But the more I thought about it, the stuff that we do in the ED is really only a tiny fraction of the patient's care, the patient's journal.

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