Measuring chronic wounds part 2

Hello, my name is Gary Bane from The Wound Guy. All slow healing wounds have a reason for their behaviour. The important first step is for the individual who has the wound to work with their clinician in order to find a diagnosis for the wound. This process will incorporate identifying the cause of the wound, its duration and any impediments that might exist to the wound's healing. There is more to wound management than finding a diagnosis, however. Both parties need to agree to the goals of any treatment path. Does the therapy need to address issues such as pain, odour, heavy woundoos, loss of function, being able to conduct normal self hygiene, and of course the list goes on. When wounds become prolonged or slow to heal, it is sometimes hard to gauge whether repair is taking place, or to know how effective a line of intervention might actually be. In a recent The Wound Guy video, I spoke about taking simple measurements of a wound, using a north-south-east-west orientation and actually drawing the letters on the wound margins so that there is consistency where wounds are measured from. Measure in millimetres and measure every week. is best done with a paper ruler and most of these dressing companies can actually help you access these. A photograph is a good supplement to an actual measurement. There is another helpful tip when using photography though. We regularly take photographs of wounds, however Whereas a clinician, I find it most helpful when I can receive images of the wound dressing and any associated bandages and get that before the dressings or bandages are taken down. And I like to have another photograph of the wound surface contact layer of that same dressing once it actually has been removed. This allows me to see the wound's colour, its consistency and its volume, as well as I'm able to investigate the dressing's integrity and performance. A series of photographs of the wound and of the dressings used is a helpful addition to the weekly wound measurement. Wounds which are healing should be getting smaller and the amount of discharge or oozing should be getting less over time. If you and your clinician have determined that your slow to heal wound is in fact capable of repair, then after four weeks of therapy you should be seeing substantial reductions in wound size, oozing and discomfort. Should this not be the case, then further investigation is warranted to find out why and to once again focus on the cause of the wound, the well-being of the patient and the associated social, emotional and spiritual impacts that come with a chronic wound. Tracking a wound's size and exudation provides simple, objective data which supports your evidence-based decision-making. Bye for now. you