Acute vs Chronic Wounds: a Closer Look Inside the Wound

In previous articles, we have looked at the basic differences between chronic wounds and acute wounds and have considered some of the macroscopic factors that are responsible for the development of a chronic wound through abnormal wound healing. This article will look at some of the differences between the two types of wound on a…

The Trouble with Chronic Wounds

The healing of an acute wound follows a well-ordered pattern through a number of defined phases. Often, acute wounds heal themselves without coming close to a wound care specialist. Unfortunately, as all wound care practitioners know, a large proportion of wounds fail to follow this well-understood path and prove more difficult to heal. These are…

Bad Wound Management

As wound care professionals, we all want to believe that we are having an active and positive effect on the healing of a wound under our care. None of us would like to think that the wound would close just as quickly if we were not involved. And all of us would hate to think…

Use of Pain Rating Scales in Wound Management

Pain is “whatever the patient says it is, existing whenever the patient says it does”. Described, Not Measured This simple observation, first expressed in 1968, goes right to the heart of the problem of addressing patients’ pain of all types, including wound pain. The inescapable problem is that pain cannot be measured directly, but only…

A New Look at the Evidence for Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy

Hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) is one of those newer wound care techniques that sounds exciting and credible, but which is still somewhat lacking in supporting clinical evidence. The theory behind HBOT is that improving oxygenation around a wound that is currently hypoxic, and therefore slow to heal, may be expected to improve healing rates. As…

The Benefits of Evidence-Based Medicine

While it is always essential that any chosen medical intervention is as effective as possible, this is particularly true in times of economic difficulty when resources are limited and waste is not an option. To maximize the effectiveness of available resources, the practice of evidence-based medicine becomes increasingly important, as well as the use of…

Wound Dressings: Simplifying by Categorizing

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Not only are wound dressings one of the most visible aspects of wound management, they are also one of the most important. For many years, wound dressings were considered a passive component in wound healing, providing a mere physical barrier against further external injury and contaminants. It is now recognized that wound dressings can be…