From a methodologic point of view, the term good wound care is classified as a nominal measurement. A nominal measurement or nominal scale is described as an ordered naming process accounting for specific attributes. This could include, for example, certain wound characteristics or perhaps a scale to measure goodness of care. Nominal scales cannot be measured with statistics. We can, however, compliment nominal data or a list of attributes with an ordinal scale.
Ordinal scales imply ordering of numbers.
An example of this used in clinical practice is the visual analog scale for pain. The qualities of pain have been described as sharp, stabbing, lancinating, dull, or aching. Clinicians have attempted to quantify these subjective phenomena by using the visual analog scale. To operationalize this concept for wound care, we could construct a hypothetical scale entitled Scale of Good Wound Care . On one end of the spectrum could be good wound care and at the other end of the scale could be best wound care.