Clean wound care
Low-risk wound cleaning, covering and infection monitoring.
Critical caution: Deep, contaminated, puncture, bite or heavily bleeding wounds—and worsening infection—need professional assessment.
- Time
- 15–30 minutes
- Difficulty
- Moderate
- Outcome
- Clean and protect a wound while recognising escalation signs
Survival lens: Survival skill is knowing the limit of improvisation. Clean technique and early escalation are more valuable than aggressive treatment beyond one’s training.
Before you begin
- Control life-threatening bleeding first
- Seek emergency care for major injury
- Check tetanus status when care is available
- For major injury call your local emergency number.
What you need
- Gloves
- Safe water or sterile saline
- Gauze and non-stick dressing
- Tape or bandage
- Waste bag
Step-by-step procedure
- Protect both people. Wash hands and put on gloves. Use eye protection if splash is possible.
- Control bleeding. Apply firm direct pressure with clean material. Add dressings rather than repeatedly lifting the first layer to check.
- Irrigate generously. Use sterile saline or safe running water. Let fluid carry contamination away from clean supplies and people.
- Remove only loose debris. Do not dig for embedded material or probe deep wounds. Avoid pouring caustic antiseptics into tissue.
- Cover and support. Apply a clean non-stick dressing. Immobilise or elevate when appropriate and comfortable.
- Review and escalate. Check pain, warmth, swelling, redness, discharge, fever, sensation and function. Mark spreading redness with time and seek care.
How to check it is working
- Bleeding remains controlled
- Fingers or toes beyond a bandage remain warm and normally coloured
- Dressing is clean and not constrictive
- Review time is written
Common mistakes
- Closing a dirty puncture wound
- Using river water for irrigation
- Removing embedded objects
- Ignoring loss of sensation or movement
Sources and further reading
How this guide was checked
Official-source aligned: Aligned with first-aid organisation principles; not a substitute for training
Independent specialist review: not yet completed. How review works.
Last updated: Nov 2026 · edition 1.0.
Open in the library to print or download · Suggest a correction · Kit planner