Wound Types

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…

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…

In an ideal world, the complex and sophisticated natural wound-healing processes that are initiated in response to skin trauma would take effect instantly and resolve every wound, every time. Unfortunately, anyone involved in wound care knows that this is simply not the case. There are a number of reasons why certain wounds prove more reluctant…

In this week’s newsletter, we will remind ourselves about the different layers of the skin. This is a topic that many of us were taught as part of our training, but which may no longer be quite at our fingertips (so to speak). Still, it is an important subject that underlies everything we do in…

An accurate wound assessment and diagnosis, as described in previous blog posts, is vital for understanding the origin and extent of the wound pain. Once the pain has been fully investigated, pain management strategies can be put into place. Underlying Cause = Underlying Source  many cases, the underlying cause of the wound is also the…

Establishing a thorough pain history should always be the first step in the management of wound pain. Only a full assessment of a wound pain can indicate the cause of the pain and help direct strategies for relief. The fundamental problem faced with the assessment of wound pain is that it cannot be measured directly…

Wound pain can be classified in two ways; according to the pattern of occurrence or according to the origin. Both classifications are necessary to completely characterize the pain caused by an individual wound. The classification of pain by occurrence was formalized by Krasner, who devised the following three categories: Noncyclic acute wound pain, Cyclic acute…

A wealth of academic research has been devoted to the assessment, diagnosis and management of wound pain. A review of the resulting literature reveals the full scale of the problem, indicating that the vast majority of patients with chronic wounds, such as pressure ulcers and venous leg ulcers suffer from pain at the wound site…