National Physical Therapy Examination (NPTE) Practice Exam

A patient has healed from a stage 3 pressure injury over the left ischial tuberosity and now presents with stage 1 characteristics. What stage should the pressure injury be classified as?

1. Stage 1 pressure injury

2. Modified stage 1 pressure injury

3. Stage 3 pressure injury

4. Modified stage 3 pressure injury

The correct answer is: Stage 3 pressure injury

A pressure injury that has healed from a stage 3 classification and now presents with characteristics typical of a stage 1 injury should not be classified back to a stage 3 injury. When assessing the staging of pressure injuries, it’s important to recognize that once a wound has fully healed, it cannot revert to a prior stage classification. The correct classification for a healed stage 3 pressure injury that is now showing signs consistent with a stage 1 injury would indeed still warrant it being classified as a stage 1 pressure injury. This is because stage 1 characteristics are superficial and involve non-blanchable erythema of intact skin, reflecting a change from the more severe necrosis present in stage 3 injuries. Healed pressure injuries can have residual effects such as scarring or discoloration, but these do not change the classification of the current status of the injury. Therefore, for this scenario, determination regarding pressure injury staging follows the standard guidelines and focuses on the current state of the tissue integrity rather than previous stages. Options suggesting modified stages or reverting back to a stage 3 classification do not accurately reflect the current assessment of the patient’s condition.