Wound Healing Flashcards
What are the signs of infection
Erythema, warmth, swelling, purulent discharge, malodour, new increasing pain.
Name some things you would look at when assessing a wound.
*Site
*Length, width, depth in cm.
*Appearance - start at the centre and then work your way out eg, 70% red 30% black
*Edges/margins- are they fixed around the wound or separated, are edges rolled under, is there new skin growth
*Exudate - colour, amount, consistency, odour
*Peri-wound - the condition of intact skin around tissue.
What is the difference a acute and chronic wound
Acute - an injury to the skin that occurs suddenly and heals at the predictable and expected rate of the normal wound healing process
Chronic - A wound that has a
slow progression
through the healing
phases due to intrinsic
or extrinsic factors
What does healed mean?
Intact epidermis
Define a wound
A break in the integrity of the epidermis, this could be the epidermis dermis and/or subcutaneous fat muscle or bone.
Name some wound aeitiology
Surgery,
Accidental damage/ trauma
pressure damage
excessive heat or cold
chemical damage
What do we mean by healing?
Wound healing is the sequence of repair processes which occur to restore normal structure and function. This process does depend on the depth of a wound
What does it mean when its an epidermal wound or deep wound
Epidermal wound is to the epidermis only and are usually abrasions or minor burns
Deep wound reach to the dermis and deeper usually caused by trauma or surgery
What is a primary intention wound
A simple wound with minimal tissue loss. edges can be brought together heals quickly. (surgical)
what is a secondary intention wound
Complex wounds , tissue loss has occurred, edges are open and cannot come together easily. healing is prolonged (trauma)
How do epidermal wounds heal
Heal by regeneration
Fibroblasts in the dermis contribute to the formation of new basement membrane upon which the epidermis will sit.
*Keratinocytes in the epidermis around the wound will migrate across the wound site and close it
*epidermal growth factors stimulate cells to mitose to replace the ones migrated across the wound
*contact inhibition occurs once epithelial cells have met and migration stops.
Wound is resurfaced
How are deep wounds healed?
(The 1st initial response when injury occurs)
Haemostasis occurs
Vascular response to minimise blood loss
Injury- vasoconstriction (vasuclar spasm) - platelet adhesion - platelet aggregation produce platelet plug- clotting factors react to produce fibrin mesh to bind platelet plug. Scab is formed
Wound healing can begin
After hemostasis completes wound healing can begin. What is stage 1 of deep wound healing
Inflammation within a few hours
(Tidy up, preparing for healing)
3 key stages of inflammation
*vasodilation results in increased blood flow to the damaged area,
*increase vascular permeability- plasma leaks from blood vessels into the damaged area
*migration of white blood cells, neutrophils, ingest foreign bodies
mast cells release histamines.
These dilated vessels cause symptoms associated with inflammation. Explain how including the signs of inflammation
Signs of inflammation:
Pain
Redness
Immobility/ loss of function
Swelling
Heat
Increased permeability- plasma leaks into tissue causing swelling, pain, and loss of function
increased size of vessels - increased visibility causing redness & heat
Increased fluid and increased pressure on nerve endings cause pain
Neutrophils are replaced with ? after a couple of days
After 2 days monocytes migrate and mature into macrophages in tissues
