Introduction

Latest Update: January 2024

Although simple wounds are common in acute care it is always important to begin assessment with a primary survey with the aim of exclude immediate life threats (such as severe shock). The history and examination should identify any concomitant injury(s) or disease, risk factors that may complicate wound management and assess the wound for injuries to vital tissues such as tendons, nerves and joints. The aim is to identify those wounds requiring referral due to nerve, tendon vascular, joint injury or with extensive tissue loss from the simple wounds that can using be debrided and easily closed.

In this topic we will spend some time discussing wound assessment as this needs to be undertaken carefully to avoid missing injuries to vital structures such as tendons and nerves or retained foreign bodies, which if unrecognised may be associated with significant complications and /or long term morbidity or disability. At the completion of this topic you should be confident to assess a wound for serious injury and within your scope of practice be able to debride and manage the majority of the wounds you encounter in your clinical practice.

Peter Stuart and the LearnEM Team