Proposal for a New Pressure Ulcer (Pressure Injury) Classification Based on Depth, Infection and Perfusion

Abstract

Pressure ulcers (PU) represent a major cause of morbidity and reduced quality of life for patients in long-term care facilities and hospitals and come at high costs to individuals and health care systems across the globe. A comprehensive evaluation of PU facilitates therapeutic decisions and effective management, which in turn can reduce complications, costs, and healing times. However, most classification systems for PU focus mainly on wound depth and do not consider other factors that impact management and prognosis, while others have proven to be too cumbersome for everyday clinical use. A proposal for a simple, comprehensive PU classification system based on the University of Texas Diabetic Foot Classification contemplating wound depth, infection status and vascular supply is hereby presented.

Keywords

Related in Clinical Guidelines and Wound Care Practices

• A Global Perspective on Wound Care
• A New Term: The Point of Pathogenicity
• Consensus principles for wound care research obtained using a Delphi process