Getting it right: wound assessment and management

Abstract

For many years, management of chronic wounds, e.g. pressure ulcers, has been based on an understanding of the physiology of acute wounds. Both acute and chronic wounds need to follow all four would healing phases, namely haemostasis, inflammation, proliferation, and maturation or remodelling, in order to achieve wound closure. However, very often, the initiating mechanism of injury in chronic wounds does not require haemostasis.