Revisions to Pressure Injury Nomenclature (Formerly Known as Pressure Ulcers).

Abstract

Nurses certified by the WOCNCB® are recognized for their clinical expertise and evidence based skill set. A major component of developing and maintaining that expertise involves keeping active in specialty trends and changes and adapting clinical practice to reflect current clinical guidelines. Several regulatory agencies, along with national and international clinical societies have adopted the NPUAP revised pressure injury nomenclature including the WOCN Society. In keeping with the high standards of our clinical practice, the WOCNCB® certified nurse must be aware of the updated pressure ulcer/injury staging system and integrate it into their daily practice. These terminology changes take time to become common practice (and not all professional wound societies have adopted this new terminology); thus, the CWCN must be fluent in both sets of terminology. The NPUAP acknowledged that since pressure injury treatment was not affected by the revised staging system, organizations may incorporate these changes during regular policy, practice, and electronic health record updates.