We’ve known for a long time that careful preparation of the wound bed prior to dressing application is crucial to wound healing. In fact, many of the dressings currently in use in today’s market depend on the clinician’s attention to wound bed preparation in order to effectively do their job. In addition to management of…
In addition to noting the characteristics of the wound itself, clinicians should also examine the periwound and the surrounding skin, comparing this tissue to the skin outside the affected area, as well as comparing the opposite (contralateral) side where possible. Structure and Quality When assessing the periwound and surrounding skin, the following should be noted:…
Wounds often cause pain, and untreated may may lead to decreased adherence with wound care. For this reason, it is important to assess patients for the presence of pain and ask what the patient is doing to relieve pain. If pain is inadequately treated, the wound care clinician should intervene to relieve pain to the…
Diagnostic tests can be an important part of wound assessment, providing valuable information about the patient’s health status as well as the patient’s potential for healing. Although you as a practitioner may not order all of these tests, tests are often available as part of the patient file or may be requested from the patient’s…
Obviously, when you are assessing a patient for the first time it is important to ask about their current wound and the circumstances behind it. Equally important is to ask about their history of previous wounds in terms of what treatments were used, how long it took to heal the wound and whether there were…
Wound assessment – where do you start? When assessing a new client with a wound, it is important to obtain a comprehensive medical history, including a wound history. Gathering this information will assist the clinician in preparing a plan of care tailored to the patient and taking into account any medical issues that may affect…
Evidence-based Wound Management As clinicians, we know that patients do not always act in their own best interest. They may cling to old remedies based on tradition or folklore, rather than researching current and accepted treatments. An example of this is applying butter to burn wounds. As practitioners we know that this is not an…
In addition to local factors that can influence wound healing, such as circulation, sensation and mechanical stress, there are a number of systemic factors that can also play a role. Aging– aging causes many changes that adversely affect the skin and its ability to heal and regenerate itself. In terms of ability to heal, as we…
There are three types of wound closure: primary, secondary and delayed primary closure. Let’s look at each of them in a little more detail. Primary wound closure Primary closure (sometimes referred to as healing by primary intention) is the fastest type of wound closure. A good example of primary closure is a paper cut. You…
Wound healing proceeds in a relatively organized fashion, following three processes that overlap- inflammation, proliferation and maturation/remodeling (some sources will describe this process as four phases breaking the inflammation process into hemostasis and inflammation). How much do you remember about the phases of wound healing? First, let’s take a look at the inflammatory phase, which…
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