Identifying Pain and Effects on Quality of Life from Chronic Wounds Secondary to Lower-Extremity Vascular Disease: An Integrative Review.

GENERAL PURPOSE: To provide information to enable better assessment and management of patients with lower extremity vascular disease (LEVD) chronic wound pain.

TARGET AUDIENCE: This continuing education activity is intended for physicians, physician assistants, nurse practitioners, and nurses with an interest in skin and wound care.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES/OUTCOMES: After completing this continuing education activity, you will be able to: ABSTRACT: A lack of wound pain validation and provider understanding about the effect of pain on quality of life are the biggest barriers to pain management for patients with chronic wound pain. There is also a need for a holistic, validated pain assessment tool for these patients. This is an integrative review of the literature intended to identify gaps in pain identification and (re)assessment for patients with chronic wounds related to lower-extremity vascular disease.