New Terminology from the National Pressure Ulcer Advisory Panel

AMY J. DiPLACIDO; LORA COX-VANCE

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Letters to the Editor

New Terminology from the National Pressure Ulcer Advisory Panel

AMY J. DiPLACIDO, MD, CWSP,

Pittsburgh, Pa.

LORA COX-VANCE, MD,

Chillicothe, Ohio, E-mail: diplacidoaj@upmc.edu

American Family Physician. 2017;95(12):757.

Author disclosure: No relevant financial affiliations.

See additional reader comments at: https://www.aafp.org/afp/2015/1115/p888.html

to the editor: In April 2016, the National Pressure Ulcer Advisory Panel (NPUAP) announced terminology updates.¹ A summary of the updates are as follows:

Skin damage that occurs as the result of pressure should be referred to as pressure injury rather than pressure ulcer, because skin damaged from pressure can be intact or ulcerated. This change in terminology also applies to the staging classification system.
The staging system for pressure injuries now uses Arabic numbers rather than Roman numerals.
Suspected deep-tissue injury has been renamed deep-tissue pressure injury.

Changes to the existing International Classification of Diseases, 10th Revision terminology are anticipated as a result of the updated NPUAP terminology. Additionally, the National Database of Nursing Quality Indicators will be incorporating the updated terminology in their quality-reporting documents. Visit the NPUAP website at http://www.npuap.org for more information about these changes.¹

editor's note: Table 1 and portions of the article have been updated to reflect these new classifications from the NPUAP.

AMY J. DiPLACIDO, MD, CWSP

Pittsburgh, Pa.

LORA COX-VANCE, MD

Chillicothe, Ohio

E-mail: diplacidoaj@upmc.edu

Author disclosure: No relevant financial affiliations.

1.National Pressure Ulcer Advisory Panel. National Pressure Ulcer Advisory Panel (NPUAP) announces a change in terminology from pressure ulcer to pressure injury and updates the stages of pressure injury. https://www.npuap.org/national-pressure-ulcer-advisory-panel-npuap-announces-a-change-in-terminology-from-pressure-ulcer-to-pressure-injury-and-updates-the-stages-of-pressure-injury/. Accessed November 29, 2016.

Email letter submissions to afplet@aafp.org. Letters should be fewer than 400 words and limited to six references, one table or figure, and three authors. Letters submitted for publication in AFP must not be submitted to any other publication. Letters may be edited to meet style and space requirements.

This series is coordinated by Kenny Lin, MD, MPH, deputy editor.

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[afp20170615p757-b1] 1.National Pressure Ulcer Advisory Panel. National Pressure Ulcer Advisory Panel (NPUAP) announces a change in terminology from pressure ulcer to pressure injury and updates the stages of pressure injury. https://www.npuap.org/national-pressure-ulcer-advisory-panel-npuap-announces-a-change-in-terminology-from-pressure-ulcer-to-pressure-injury-and-updates-the-stages-of-pressure-injury/. Accessed November 29, 2016.

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New Terminology from the National Pressure Ulcer Advisory Panel

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