Conditions / Wound care
Wound care at home
A slow-healing wound, a surgical incision, or a wound vac can be frightening to manage at home, and many families do not expect to help with care between visits. Our wound care nurses, including WOCN-certified nurses, treat the wound, teach you and your family what to do between visits, and work with your doctor and wound clinic.
How home health helps
- Wound assessment, measurement, and dressing changes as your doctor orders.
- Negative pressure wound therapy (wound vac) care and dressing changes.
- Care for surgical wounds, pressure injuries, diabetic and vascular wounds, and ostomies.
- Teaching you and your family how to protect the wound and recognize warning signs.
- Help with nutrition, blood sugar, and pressure relief, which all affect healing.
Learn more about our wound and infusion care.
What to expect
- Your doctor or wound clinic orders home health and the wound treatment plan.
- A nurse visits on the schedule in your doctor's orders. Wound vac dressings are often changed a few times a week.
- Between visits, you or a family member may need to do simple care. Your nurse will teach you step by step. Tell the nurse if you do not feel ready; you can ask to be shown again.
- Dressing changes can be uncomfortable. Tell your nurse, and ask your doctor whether to take pain medicine before a change.
- Your nurse keeps your doctor or wound clinic updated on how the wound is healing.
- The first visit is longer than later ones. The nurse or therapist reviews your health and medicines and checks your home for fall and safety risks. It is a safety check, not an inspection of your housekeeping.
- Home health is visits, not all-day care. Between visits, you and your family carry out the plan, and your care team teaches you how.
What you and your family do between visits
- Follow the dressing and wound vac instructions your nurse leaves with you.
- Keep the number your care team gives you next to the wound vac in case the dressing comes loose or the vac alarms.
- Ask your nurse before showering or bathing with a wound or wound vac.
- Help with eating well, drinking fluids, and changing position if pressure is a problem.
- Wash hands before and after touching the dressing.
When to call
Call your care team if…
- More redness, warmth, swelling, or pain around the wound
- Drainage that increases, changes color, or smells bad
- A fever over 101°F (38.3°C)
- The dressing comes off or the wound vac alarms and you cannot fix it
Use the number your care team gave you, or call us at 214-440-1394 (Texas) or 303-597-0505 (Colorado).
Call 911 if…
- Heavy bleeding that does not stop with pressure
- Confusion, very fast breathing, or feeling very ill with a fever
Do not wait to call your care team first.
General information, not medical advice. Follow your care team's instructions.
Questions families ask
Will a nurse change my wound vac at home?
Yes. When your doctor orders it, a home health nurse changes the wound vac dressing on the schedule your doctor orders, often a few times a week, and teaches you what to do between visits.
Will I have to change the dressing myself?
Sometimes. Your nurse does the dressing changes during visits. If the plan needs care between visits, the nurse teaches you or a family member and watches you do it until you are comfortable. If nobody at home can do it, tell us so the plan can be changed with your doctor.
What should I do if the wound vac alarms at night?
Check the instructions your nurse left: many alarms mean a loose seal or a full canister. If you cannot fix it, call the number your care team gave you. Ask for that number at your first visit and keep it next to the vac. If there is heavy bleeding, call 911.
Questions about Medicare, homebound status, and costs are on our FAQ page.
Getting started
Home health starts with an order from your doctor. Ask your doctor or hospital discharge planner for Adaptive Home Health, or call us and we will work with your doctor. We serve Texas (Houston, Dallas–Fort Worth, Austin, San Antonio, and Central Texas) and Colorado (Denver). See the areas and ZIP codes we serve.
Doctors and discharge planners: refer a patient.
Helpful guides
- What to expect from home health care
- What “homebound” means for Medicare home health
- Leaving the hospital: a home health checklist