CHAPTER 4 PRACTICAL USE OF MODERN HONEY DRESSINGS IN CHRONIC WOUNDS

Choosing to use a honey dressing As with any other dressing product, the choice of honey as a wound dressing product must be linked to the properties ascribed to it. Nor is it different with respect to gaining informed consent from the patient. The practitioner using it needs to be knowledgeable about the benefits and the problems of application to negotiate a care plan with the patient. This aspect of negotiation may come into sharp focus, as products that could be considered alternative or complementary by some, can lead to vociferous demands for use by the patient. From the author’s experience to date, honey appears to be associated with positive attitudes and interest by patients when it has been introduced into discussion as a treatment possibility. For those patients who request honey, it can be necessary to temper a degree of over-optimism about outcomes with realism gained from clinical practice: expectations of ‘miracle cures ’ have a tendency to disappoint in the field of chronic wound healing. In this situation, patients have usually purchased a non-medical grade honey from a health-food shop, so it may be necessary to discuss sensitively the pros and cons of this and, in some cases, source a suitable alternative honey product for use. Molan (1999) describes the following key therapeutic attributes for honey: z Antimicrobial z Deodorisatio