Pressure Injury: Localized damage to the skin and/or underlying soft tissue, usually over a bony prominence or related to a medical or other device. Pressure injuries result from intense or prolonged pressure or pressure combined with shear and may be influenced by factors such as tissue tolerance, perfusion, and microclimate. Formerly known as pressure ulcers. 

Pressure Injury Staging: A standardized system used to describe the extent of tissue damage present in a pressure injury. Staging provides a common clinical language for communicating wound severity, planning care, documenting findings, and supporting quality measurement.

Deep Tissue Pressure Injury (DTPI): Pressure-related damage to underlying soft tissue that may initially appear as persistent nonblanchable deep red, maroon, or purple discoloration or as epidermal separation revealing a dark wound bed or blood-filled blister. Changes in temperature, tissue consistency, or pain may precede visible tissue breakdown.

Unstageable Pressure Injury: A full-thickness pressure injury in which the extent of tissue damage cannot be confirmed because the wound base is obscured by slough or eschar. A numerical stage should not be assigned until enough of the wound base is visible to determine the depth of tissue damage, when removal of the obscuring tissue is clinically appropriate.

Moisture-Associated Skin Damage (MASD): Inflammation and erosion of the skin caused by prolonged exposure to moisture, such as urine, stool, perspiration, or wound drainage. MASD can sometimes resemble a pressure injury, making accurate assessment of the cause of skin damage important.

Tissue Tolerance: The ability of the skin and underlying tissues to withstand pressure and other mechanical forces without sustaining injury. Tissue tolerance can be affected by factors including perfusion, nutrition, moisture, medical condition, and individual patient characteristics.

Microclimate: The temperature and moisture conditions at or near the interface between the skin and a support surface, medical device, or other external surface. Excess heat and moisture can influence the ability of skin and underlying tissues’ ability to tolerate pressure and shear.

Shear: A mechanical force that occurs when adjacent tissue layers move in different directions, potentially causing deformation and damage beneath the skin surface. Shear may occur when a patient slides or is repositioned against a support surface.

Tissue Perfusion: The delivery of oxygenated blood to body tissues. Reduced or impaired perfusion can decrease tissue tolerance and increase susceptibility to pressure-related tissue damage.

Pressure Injury Risk Assessment: A systematic evaluation of patient-specific factors that may increase the likelihood of pressure injury development. Structured risk assessment tools can support this process, but they should be combined with comprehensive assessment and clinical judgment rather than used as standalone decision-making tools.

Interdisciplinary Care/Collaboration: A coordinated approach in which professionals from multiple disciplines contribute their expertise to pressure injury prevention and patient care. Effective collaboration integrates information about factors such as mobility, nutrition, medical stability, skin integrity, support surfaces, and medical devices to support individualized prevention and continuity of care.

Medical Device–Related Pressure Injury (MDRPI): A pressure injury associated with the use of a medical device for diagnostic or therapeutic purposes. These injuries may reflect the shape or pattern of the device and require prevention strategies that address device-related pressure as well as the patient’s overall pressure injury risk.

Support Surface: A specialized surface or device designed to redistribute pressure and help manage factors that contribute to pressure injury development. Examples may include specialized mattresses, overlays, cushions, and integrated bed systems.

Structured Documentation: Clinical information recorded in standardized, predefined fields within an electronic health record so that it can be consistently communicated, retrieved, analyzed, and, when applicable, used for electronic quality measurement.

Electronic Clinical Quality Measure (eCQM): A standardized measure that uses electronically captured clinical data to assess the quality of health care. Unlike measures that depend primarily on manual chart review, or on submitted ICD-10 codes, eCQMs rely on structured data documented within electronic health records.