Classification of pressure sores: 1.

Abstract

It is anticipated that the forthcoming national clinical guidelines for the prevention and management of pressure sores will attempt to clarify pressure sore classification. There are many classification systems available, but to date not one has emerged as all-encompassing. A classification system has to be sufficiently detailed to allow accurate assessment of pressure sores. So far this has been difficult to achieve, particularly for pressure sores that do not involve a break in the skin. The assessment forms the basis upon which the patient's care will be planned. There are ethical, legal and financial implications if the assessment is unable to reflect accurately the true nature of the patient's pressure sore. Nurses have attempted to integrate pressure sore classification into the holistic patient assessment process. Their attempts are often thwarted by the limitations of the classification systems currently available. As a result a patient's pressure sore is allocated a classification in which the criteria chosen are nearest to the visual description of the sore, but do not accurately represent the true extent of tissue damage. This article, the first of two parts, highlights the problems of patient assessment and the limitations of current classification systems.