Signs and symptoms of hypothetical wound assessment by nurses

This is a report of a study in which tissue viability nurses, MSc student nurse practitioners, and post-registration nurses on a wound management module (n = 16) ranked signs and symptoms of wound healing, stasis and deterioration relative to their supposed importance. The top ranked sign for a healing wound was 'size' (reduction), for a static wound it was 'no' (change), and for a deteriorating wound 'increase' (pain). This was a convenience sample, and caution is indicated in generalizing results. However, there were statistically significant differences between assessors in the number of words they used (ANOVA P < 0.001), and in the words they used for different wound phases (chi(2)) P < 0.001). The study supports the view that there are some words used in common by different respondents in specific wound phases. However, a previous study raised questions about what people actually mean when they use a particular word (Maylor, 2003).