By Lindsay D. Andronaco RN, BSN, CWCN, WOC, DAPWCA, FAACWS
Part 2 in a series on skin failure
For Part 1, Click Here
In March of 1989 the National Pressure Ulcer Advisory Panel (NPUAP) convened, during which Karen Lou Kennedy first described the Kennedy Terminal Ulcer (KTU) phenomenon. A KTU is an unavoidable skin breakdown or skin failure that is thought to be a perfusion problem exacerbated by vascular/profusion insufficiency, organ failure, and/or the dying process. A KTU is a visible sign, an explanation, of what is transpiring within the patient.