title: Components and Quality Measures of DIME (Devitalized Tissue, Infection/Inflammation, Moisture Balance, and Edge Preparation) in Wound Care.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To discuss how patient considerations and the initial wound environment can affect wound treatment and summarize the way in which the initial US Wound Registry measures capture aspects of the DIME (Debridement/devitalized tissue, Infection or inflammation, Moisture balance, and wound Edge preparation/wound depth) principles.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The treatment of chronic wounds often involves extended hospital stays and long-term outpatient follow-up visits with costly advanced therapeutic interventions. As complex care is required for chronic wounds, treatment guidelines such as DIME have evolved to include consideration of patient-centered concerns and etiology, as well as features of wound bed preparation. The US healthcare system is in the midst of transitioning to a quality-based system. However, as wound care is not yet a recognized specialty, it is poorly represented in the current approved quality-based measures.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This article helps to identify the practice guidelines that are not currently represented by quality metrics.
authors.affiliation: Robert J. Snyder, DPM, is Professor and Director of Clinical Research, Barry University School of Podiatric Medicine, North Miami Beach, Florida. Caroline Fife, MD, is Chief Medical Officer, Intellicure, Inc; Chief Executive Officer, The US Wound Registry; and Medical Director, Wound Clinic, St Luke's Hospital, The Woodlands, Texas. Zena Moore, PhD, is Professor and Head, School of Nursing and Midwifery, Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, Dublin, Ireland. Drs Snyder and Fife have disclosed that they are consultants for KCI, an Acelity company. Dr Moore has disclosed that she has no financial relationships related to this article.
authors.forename: Robert J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Snyder
authors.forename: Caroline
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Fife
authors.forename: Zena
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Moore
mesh_terms: D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D018802:Patient-Centered Care / Q000458:organization & administration*; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic / Q000592:standards; D011787:Quality of Health Care / Q000592:standards*; D018570:Risk Assessment; D000072836:Surgical Wound / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000628:therapy*; D013529:Surgical Wound Dehiscence / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000628:therapy; D013530:Surgical Wound Infection / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000628:therapy*; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014481:United States; D014945:Wound Healing / Q000502:physiology; D014947:Wounds and Injuries / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000628:therapy*