NURS 360: For surgical incisions, does the use of hydrocolloid dressings reduce the risk of infection compared with silver dressings?

Surgical incisions are cuts in the skin and soft tissue created to facilitate an operation or procedure. Afterwards, these cuts must be covered with a wound dressing to prevent infection from occurring. Hydrocolloid dressings and silver dressings are commonly used for surgical incisions. Hydrocolloid dressings are gel-like that stick to the wound to provide a moist, healing environment. Silver dressings release silver into the wound to provide an antimicrobial effect. The question is, based on evidence-based practice and nursing research, which dressing provides the best environment to prevent infection and promote optimum healing for surgical wounds. For our research, we used a variety of current scholarly sources to compare the dressings and concluded the silver dressings were more effective on preventing infection of surgical wounds.