The NPUAP Meeting – This was No Consensus Conference

The National Pressure Ulcer Advisory Panel (NPUAP) held a Consensus Conference on Pressure Ulcer Staging April 8–9, 2016 in Chicago, Illinois. This was conducted by a moderator and six NPUAP members who were designated as the staging task force. This consisted of 4 nurses, 2 of which were nurse practitioners, one dietician and an individual with a Ph.D. in mechanical and aerospace engineering. Their purpose was “to revise the staging definitions to further clarify and refine the system and develop new nomenclature relevant to pressure related soft tissue injury” (Consensus Conference on Pressure Ulcer Staging, 2016). Many of the changes were not made by consensus but were predetermined by the task force. This includes the following changes. Pressure ulcers are now pressure injuries. The stages are described with Arabic numbers rather than Roman numerals. There are two new pressure categories – medical device related pressure injury and mucosal membrane pressure injury. New artwork has been created to depict the stages. There were changes made to all the stages, but only some of this was by consensus. These revisions were announced by press release on April 13, 2016.