Contents

Abstract

The effective management of nonhealing wounds is based on a complete patient history, a detailed initial assessment of the wound, and an analysis of probable causative factors. This information is used to individualize a management strategy to the underlying pathophysiology preventing healing and to implement appropriate wound interventions. Regular reassessment of progress toward healing and appropriate modification of the intervention are also necessary. Accurate and clinically relevant wound assessment is an important clinical tool, but this process remains a substantial challenge. Wound assessment terminology is nonuniform, many questions surrounding wound assessment remain unanswered, agreement has yet to be reached on the key wound parameters to measure in clinical practice, and the accuracy and reliability of available wound assessment techniques vary. This article, which resulted from a meeting of wound healing experts in June 2003, reviews clinically useful wound measurement approaches, provides an overview of the principles and practice of chronic wound assessment geared to a clinical audience, and introduces a simple mnemonic, MEASURE. MEASURE encapsulates key wound parameters that should be addressed in the assessment and management of chronic wounds: Measure (length, width, depth, and area), Exudate (quantity and quality), Appearance (wound bed, including tissue type and amount), Suffering (pain type and level), Undermining (presence or absence), Reevaluate (monitoring of all parameters regularly), and Edge (condition of edge and surrounding skin). This article also provides some preliminary recommendations targeted to developing best practice guidelines for wound assessment.