Wound assessment and the TIME framework.

A structured wound assessment is a crucial part of managing any patient with a wound. Many different wound assessment tools currently exist but there is little standardization in the information they are used to record. A simple framework such as TIME can be used to co-ordinate the data collection into more useful elements which assist in planning cost-effective care. Clustering the information under the key headings of TIME encourages the practitioner to relate what they are seeing to what is happening at a cellular level and manage wounds in a proactive rather than reactive manner, setting clear management/care objectives to facilitate the wound to heal where this is appropriate.