A stage one pressure ulcer presents as intact skin with non-blanchable redness of a localized area, usually over a bony prominence. Darkly pigmented skin may not have visible blanching. Its color may differ from the surrounding area. The area may be painful, firm, soft, warmer, or cooler as compared to adjacent tissue. A stage 2 pressure ulcer is characterized by partial thickness loss of the dermis presenting as a shallow open ulcer with a red pink wound bed without slough. Others may present as an intact or open or ruptured serumfilled blister. This stage should not be used to describe skin tears, tape burns, peral dermatitis, masseration or excoriation. A stage three pressure ulcer involves full thickness tissue loss. Subcutaneous fat may be visible but bone, tendon or muscle are not exposed. Slough may be present but does not obscure the depth of tissue loss. Stage three pressure ulcers may include undermining and tunneling. A stage 4 pressure ulcer involves full thickness tissue loss with exposed bone, tendon, or muscle. Slough or escar may be present on some parts of the wound bed. A stage 4 pressure ulcer often involves undermining and tunneling. Deep tissue injury is defined as a purple or maroon localized area of discolored intact skin or blood-filled blister due to damage of underlying soft tissue from pressure and/or sheer. The area may be preceded by tissue that is painful, firm, mushy, boggy, warmer, or cooler as compared to adjacent tissue. A pressure ulcer should be described as unstageable if the base is obscured by escar or slough. Until enough slough and/or escar is removed to expose the base of the wound, neither the true depth nor the stage can be determined. To learn more about moist wound healing and other key concepts in wound care, you may wish to consider becoming certified as a wound care specialist. The benefits of wound certification are immeasurable both to your own career and to the standard of care that you can offer your patients. And because Medicare and other organizations are now holding health care professionals responsible for outcomes in wound care, there has never been a better time to become a wound care specialist. Woundeducators.com is dedicated to helping you take this allimportant step in your career and to help you handle any type of wounds you may encounter in your daily practice. [Music]