Book Title: Wound Care Nursing
Chapter 3: Assessment and Documentation
Overview:
- Includes an extensive list of intrinsic and extrinsic factors that impair wound healing
- Discusses wound assessment and characteristics
- Provides a tabulated summary of how to determine wound size and the stages of wounds
- Includes suggestions for linking comprehensive wound assessment and long-term wound management
- Chapter comprises a relevant case study in diabetes detection resulting from wound assessment
Description:
The cornerstones of wound management are sound assessment and accurate documentation (Banks 1998). If nurses are to plan and deliver high-quality care, they require knowledge of the factors that affect wound healing and an understanding of the common terminology associated with wound characteristics. This chapter explores wound assessment methods and the use of consistent terminology that facilitates reliable documentation and communication.
Topics:
- Principles of wound management
- Factors impairing healing
- Old dressings
- Methods of wound assessment
- Written documentation
- Tracings
- Photography
- Wound characteristics
- Wound size
- Depth or stage
- Tissue types
- Exudate
- Odour
- Surrounding skin
- Skin eruptions
- Linking assessment to practice
- Long-term objectives
- Short-term objectives
- Introduction of a wound-assessment chart
Speaker / Author:
Sue Templeton
is a registered nurse who holds a bachelor’s degree in nursing. She is currently undertaking a master’s degree in nursing. Sue has more than 16 years’ experience in the management of acute and chronic wounds, and has initiated wound management policies, designed wound assessment tools, and contributed to the development of a clinical pathway for the management of venous leg ulcers. Sue frequently conducts wound management education for nurses in a variety of settings and has published and presented at local and national forums. She is currently employed as the advanced wound specialist and clinical nurse consultant with the Royal District Nursing Service of South Australia. Sue is also a clinical tutor with the University of Adelaide, a member of the South Australian Wound Management Association, the South Australian Society for Vascular Nursing, and the Australian Council of Community Nursing Services.
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