I attended wound and pressure ulcer training. I learned a great amount of information about pressure ulcers and wounds.

A pressure ulcer is a localised damage to the skin and underlying tissue usually over a bony prominence caused by pressure. I understand that it is really important that patients who are not very mobile should be repositioned or encouraged to move to relieve the pressure from their prominent areas such as their bottoms. Wounds are skin breaks that could be caused by injuries.

I learned that the different categories of wounds are category 1- the skin is not broken and should be blanchable. Category 2- superficial loss of the skin, the top layer is broken and it could be a blister. Category 3- full skin loss, there may be slough however no tendons, bone or muscle are exposed. Category 4- You can see the bone, tendon or muscle. Then theirs unstageable which is nacrotic and you can’t see what is going on therefore, you need to debride the wound to see what is underneath. Lastly, there is a deep tissue injury which means that the skin is intact however it is purple/maroon or a blood blister due to an underlying issue. Overall there are 6 categories that a wound should be identified as to be able to select the correct dressing and heal the wound effectively.

I understand that to clean a wound the water should be warm as cold water delays the healing process. I also learnt that the peri-wound is the whole skin around the wound and hyperkeratosis is a high build-up of chitin and is often hard.

A patient who is bed-bound or not very mobile should be repositioned every 2 hours at the maximum. I learnt that this helps the blood to keep flowing which prevents pressure ulcers.

I lastly learnt a word called TIME which is a word that is used when assessing a wound or pressure ulcer.

T stands for Tissue.

I stands for infection.

M stands for moisture balance.

E stands for environment/ edges/ exudate.

S stands for surroundings.

I enjoyed this training because I didn’t know how complex wounds and pressure ulcers are but, I can confidently say that I feel more positive that my knowledge and skills have grown from this session.