The Development and Preliminary Validity Testing of the Healing Progression Rate Tool

Area of Science:

• Wound Care
• Medical Device Development
• Clinical Assessment Tools

Background:

• Accurate wound assessment and documentation are crucial for effective patient care and reimbursement.
• Existing tools like the Pressure Ulcer Scale for Healing (PUSH) require validation for measuring healing progression.
• A modified tool, the Healing Progression Rate (HPR), was developed to address these needs.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a new wound healing assessment tool, the Healing Progression Rate (HPR).
• To provide preliminary evidence of the validity of the HPR tool.
• To compare the HPR tool's performance against the PUSH tool.

Main Methods:

• A descriptive, qualitative study involving wound care experts and practitioners.
• Development and evaluation of the HPR tool, a modified version of the PUSH scale.
• Comparison of HPR and PUSH tool performance using wound case images and expert/non-expert scoring.

Main Results:

• Wound care experts indicated the HPR score change better reflected wound status changes compared to the PUSH tool (P = .026).
• Non-expert participants showed a preference for the HPR tool, with 73% rating it as more objective.
• Statistical analysis revealed significant differences in expert preference for the HPR tool in 8 cases (χ2 (2) = 11.20; P = .004).

Conclusions:

• The preliminary validation study suggests the HPR tool is a promising instrument for assessing wound healing.
• Further validation and reliability testing of the HPR tool are warranted.
• The HPR tool may offer improved objectivity and better reflection of wound status changes in clinical practice.