Circles, Ellipses, Ruler
KISS Circles and Ellipses Instructions/Competency
KISS Wound Guides are designed to be an aid for the photography of wounds on admission into your facility and for use during the patient’s stay in the facility. The uniquely colored rings and bars are standardized to a given length and area (Dark blue will completely surround 10 square centimeters or 10 linear centimeters). When photographed the standardized colors provide a size scale of the wound. Even if the numeric numbers are not visible due to lighting, poor focus or camera distance from the wound, the colors will be visible and the overall size of the wound will be known.
Circle/Ellipse
1. Apply appropriate size KISS ring or ellipse to the outer edge of wound to fully surround it.
2. Place note label next to wound. (Permanent marker works best)
3. Place stick figure image next to wound to show wound alignment to body.
4. Photograph and discard guides/labels.
5. Ring surrounds approximate area noted on the ring.
Finer measurements are to be made with the centimeter ruler provided on the edge of the label.
The reference tab provided is to be placed on the medical record next to the written notes for this wound to provide a physical color/size reference to the ring used in the photograph. Color will fade with time and sometimes the printer ink is out. The tab is there for reference.
Ruler
1. Place note label next to wound. Trim as needed. (Permanent marker works best)
2. Place stick figure image next to wound to show wound alignment to body.
3. make fine measurements with the Ruler
4. Place the KISS ruler next to the wound
5. Photograph and discard guides/labels.
The reference tab provided on the edge of the guide shows all the bars sizes and colors for a physical reference. Place the tab on the medical record next to the written notes for this wound.
The Ruler is 25cm long with colored bars at 5cm lengths, designed for wounds that are linear in shape. The ruler can be used as is or it can be trimmed. For wounds that are smaller than 19cm, the ruler can be trimmed to better scale the wound, however when trimming leave a longer bar than the wound intact, example being, for a 9cm wound trim the ruler at 11cm leaving the 10cm dark blue bar untouched to scale the wound.
For large circular or elliptical wounds greater than 100 sq cm, 2 rulers can be used to photograph the length and width of the wound.