Essentials of wound care: assessing and managing impaired skin integrity

Abstract

The assessment and management of impaired skin integrity as part of wound care is a common nursing task. Specific wound assessment tools may assist nurses to structure an assessment, but wider holistic factors also need to be considered. The TIMERS (tissue, inflammation and infection, moisture balance, edge, repair and regeneration, and social factors) tool offers a flexible approach to assessing wounds holistically and can be applied in all wound aetiologies. This article provides nurses with an overview of the assessment and management of impaired skin integrity using the TIMERS tool. It also discusses the importance of shared decision-making between nurses and patients when formulating a wound care regimen.

Keywords: clinical; dressings; patients; professional; self-care; skin; tissue viability; wound assessment; wound care; wound healing; wound management.