Classification of Wounds Flashcards

Study Notes

Wounds are classified as clean, contaminated, sutured, or left open based on their healing process.
Clean wounds: No interruption of respiratory, alimentary, genital, or urinary systems; no inflammation.
Clean-contaminated wounds: Interruption of systems but no infection; example includes surgical wounds.
Contaminated wounds: Major break in sterile technique or spillage of gastrointestinal contents; includes open, fresh, accidental wounds.
Dirty or infected wounds: Show clinical infection signs like purulent drainage; commonly old accidental wounds.

Primary intention: Wound edges neatly approximated; healing occurs with inflammation, granulation, and maturation.
Secondary intention: Wounds not sutured heal from the base, slower, larger scars may form, sometimes requiring skin grafts.
Tertiary intention: Contaminated wounds left open initially and later sutured after infection control.

Remodeling phase starts after about three weeks, lasting from 22 days up to one year; wounds contract slightly during this time.
Inflammation phase lasts 3-5 days, involving blood clot formation and vessel constriction.
Granulation phase begins around days 4-5 and continues up to four weeks, with fibroblasts and epithelial cells strengthening the wound.
Maturation phase begins in week 2-3, lasting for several months, where scars become stronger and paler.

Six signs of infection include redness, warmth, induration, pain, abscess formation, and odor.
Complications can arise at any stage of healing, mostly in the first week after surgery; they may occur at the surface incision or deep tissue.
Complications include hypertrophic scars, keloids, contractures, dehiscence, evisceration, adhesions, and potential organ dysfunction.