Guide: Special Considerations in Wound Bed Preparation

Overview

This article builds and expands upon the concept of wound bed preparation introduced by Sibbald et al in 2000 as a holistic approach to wound diagnosis and treatment of the cause and patient-centred concerns such as pain management, optimizing the components of local wound care: Debridement, Infection and persistent Inflammation, along with Moisture balance before Edge effect for healable but stalled chronic wounds.

Background

This article incorporates a framework for assessment, diagnosis, and treatment of wounds along the continuum toward optimal healing. The authors will introduce evidence-based and best clinical practice-based strategies for providing holistic and patient-centred care. It is important to treat the whole patient and not just the ‘‘hole’’ in the patient. The preparation and optimization of the wound bed for functional healing may not always result in complete healing, despite the clinicians’ comprehensive team efforts. It is also important to recognize that some wounds may remain in the static or ‘‘stalled’’ phase of the wound-healing trajectory.

Information is organized with a quick reference guide of the key bedside assessment and treatment steps

This 2011 wound bed preparation (WBP) update also links evidence-informed practices to the evidence summarized in the recent Best Practice Guidelines of the Registered Nurses Association of Ontario. To date, three best practice documents related to the treatment of wounds (pressure, venous, and diabetic) have been issued by the Registered Nurses Association of Ontario, and the components related to local wound care have been considered for this summary along with updated literature searches. The information is organized with a quick reference guide of the key bedside assessment and treatment steps organized with the components of the WBP paradigm.

Downloadable Reference

Special Considerations in Wound Bed Preparation (2011) includes quick reference guides, charts and tables.

This article builds and expands upon the concept of wound bed preparation introduced by Sibbald et al in 2000 as a holistic approach to wound diagnosis and treatment of the cause and patient-centred concerns such as pain management, optimizing the components of local wound care: Debridement, Infection and persistent Inflammation, along with Moisture balance before Edge effect for healable but stalled chronic
wounds.

Reprinted with permission from Adv Skin Wound Care 2011:24:415-436

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