Visual skin assessment is frequently reported in published literature to be challenging in dark skin tone patients as identification of skin redness (typical visual diagnosis of category 1 PU) is difficult. In the Prevention and Treatment of Pressure Ulcers/Injuries Clinical Practice Guideline (CPG) (EPUAP/NPIAP/PPPIA 2019) recommendation 2.7 states “When assessing darkly pigmented skin, consider assessment of skin temperature and sub-epidermal moisture as important adjunct assessment strategies”. The CPG reference B Bates Jenson WOCN 2009; 36(3);277-284 in their strength of evidence. A descriptive cohort study including pooled data from 2 pervious Nursing Home studies, n=66. Goal was to compare SEM values in persons with dark skin tone versus lighter skin tone. The author concluded:
• Higher SEM Values was associated with both concurrent and incident (1 week later) skin damage in persons with dark skin tones
• When more skin damage was observed, SEM values were higher at all anatomic locations.