Pain in pressure ulcers

Integrating pain management into a treatment paradigm for pressure ulcers can lead to improved outcomes. An approach to wound bed preparation that addresses the cause and patient-centered concerns--as well as local wound care factors of moisture balance, debridement, and bacterial balance--can be integrated with the Krasner model of chronic wound pain. The risk factors for pressure ulcers are well known, but pain may be an important contributor to immobility and the development of pressure ulcers. Pain is also an important signal of wound-related infections. Strategies must be developed to control the cyclic acute pain of dressing changes and the noncyclic acute pain of wound debridement. Spinal cord injured and elderly, cognitively impaired patients with pressure ulcers present special challenges in pain management.