Wound care: ensuring a holistic and collaborative assessment

摘要

Holistic assessment of the patient with a chronic wound is an essential prerequisite to the successful management and outcome of his/ her care. Assessment is not about the wound, but rather about the innate capacity of the patient for healing. Often, it is subtle hints that emerge from patient assessment that will have a significant influence on how or whether the wound will heal. Consideration of data obtained from the assessment will inform patient and wound management strategies by pinpointing the cause of the wound, and providing baseline data for comparison over time of the progress of healing and effectiveness of interventions. However, unless the information is documented accurately, and in a timely manner, treatment will potentially fail, exposing health professionals to litigation and questions over professionalism.