Wound Assessment and Documentation

Up to 20% of all US medicolegal claims and more than 10% of settlements are wound related. Documentation is essential for all health care settings; however, there are differences in each setting. Know...

Moisture-associated skin damage (MASD) is becoming increasingly prevalent in today’s health care system. Often associated with discomfort and pain, MASD ultimately negatively impacts quality of life. ...

Wound photo documentation captures a visual reference and helps provide a timeline for healing status for the patient’s medical record. Pictures in wound care can be used to ensure accuracy of measure...

Patients with wounds are cared for according to the scope and standards of practice, which are used to guide nurses and other members of the interprofessional wound care team. An intricate network of ...

I’m sure we’ve all hit that point in our wound care careers where we’ve had that one patient who’s wound just doesn’t seem to respond to any treatment. You’ve tried everything that you can think of—st...

Paula Erwin Toth, RN, MSN, FAAN, WOC nurse Northeast Ohio is now being enveloped by a polar vortex. The subzero temperatures put everyone at risk, but our patients with chronic wounds are especiall...

By Samantha Kuplicki, MSN, APRN-CNS, AGCNS-BC, CWCN-AP, CWS, RNFA Should pain management interventions be put in place before debriding a venous ulcer? Without question, yes. Any comprehensive w...

By Laurie Swezey RN, BSN, CWOCN, CWS, FACCWS There are many tools that can be used to assess wounds. It is important to be aware of these tools and what they measure. It is also important to become...

By Holly M. Hovan MSN, APRN-ACNS-BC, CWOCN-AP After determining our goals of wound treatment (healing, maintaining, or comfort/palliative), we need to choose a treatment that meets the needs of th...

By Martin D. Vera, LVN, CWS Wound bed preparation has become the gold standard model for proper wound assessment. It allows us clinicians to identify and breakdown local barriers to wound healing. ...