How to describe a wound and dressing plan in an OET Nursing letter
Describe a wound in an OET letter with only what the next nurse needs to continue care: its site and type, current size and appearance, any sign of infection or change, the dressing used and how often it is changed, and when it should be reviewed. Write it in full sentences and plain clinical words, and leave out older measurements unless they show a trend the reader must know.
Why wound details matter in nursing letters
Wounds are one of the most common reasons a nurse writes to another nurse: a community nurse taking over dressings after discharge, an aged care facility receiving a resident with a pressure injury, a clinic being asked to review a wound that is not healing. The reader must be able to continue care from your letter alone, so the wound description has to be precise without becoming a copy of the wound chart.
The five things a wound description needs
| Element | What to write | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Site and type | Where it is and what kind of wound | "a surgical wound on her left lower abdomen", "a pressure injury on his sacrum" |
| Current state | Size and appearance now | "It measures 3 cm by 2 cm and is clean, with healthy pink tissue." |
| Change | Better, worse or unchanged, if it matters | "It has reduced from 5 cm since admission." |
| Care | Dressing type and frequency, any special step | "It is dressed with a foam dressing, changed every three days." |
| Follow-up | Review dates, sutures, what to watch for | "The sutures are due for removal on 14 May." |
Not every letter needs all five. A small healed wound in a patient referred for something else might take one clause: "Her surgical wound has healed well."
Sentence patterns
Wound notes are usually heavily abbreviated. Turn them into short, clear sentences (see case notes to full sentences).
| Note | Letter sentence |
|---|---|
| Sacral PI stage 2, 2×3 cm | "He has a stage 2 pressure injury on his sacrum measuring 2 cm by 3 cm." |
| Wound clean, dry, intact | "The wound is clean and dry, and the edges are intact." |
| Mod serous exudate, ↑ | "There is a moderate amount of clear fluid, which has increased." |
| Erythema 2 cm around, warm | "The surrounding skin is red and warm for about 2 cm around the wound." |
| Dsg: foam, change 3/7 | "It is dressed with a foam dressing, changed every three days." |
| STR day 10 post-op | "The sutures should be removed ten days after surgery, on 14 May." |
Notice that each sentence gives one or two facts. Long sentences joining size, colour, discharge and dressing together are hard to follow and hurt Conciseness & Clarity.
Choosing what to leave out
Wound notes often contain daily entries. The reader needs the current picture and the trend, not the history of each dressing change.
- Leave out routine entries ("dressing changed, no concerns") repeated across days.
- Leave out past wounds that have healed and do not affect the current plan.
- Keep anything that changed the plan: a positive swab, a change of dressing type, a referral to a wound specialist.
- Keep risk factors that the reader must manage: limited mobility, poor nutrition, diabetes, incontinence, but only in one short sentence.
Worked example (invented case)
Case summary (invented): Mrs Rosa Delgado, 81, transferring from hospital to Greenhill Aged Care after treatment for pneumonia (resolved). On admission 2 April: stage 2 pressure injury on left heel, 3 cm × 2 cm. Now (16 April) 2 cm × 1.5 cm, pink base, minimal exudate, no signs of infection. Hydrocolloid dressing, changed every 3 days, last changed 15 April. Heel offloaded with pillow in bed; repositioned 2-hourly. Mobilises with frame and one assist. Poor appetite, dietitian started supplement drinks twice daily. Previous right hip replacement 2012. Cataract surgery 2018. Task: write to the nurse manager at Greenhill.
Selection decisions:
- In: pressure injury details now, improvement since admission, dressing and frequency, date of last change, offloading and repositioning, mobility, supplement drinks (nutrition affects healing).
- Out: hip replacement and cataract surgery (unrelated), the full pneumonia course beyond one sentence (resolved).
Sample paragraph:
Mrs Delgado has a stage 2 pressure injury on her left heel, which developed before her admission. It has improved from 3 cm by 2 cm to 2 cm by 1.5 cm, and the wound bed is pink with minimal fluid and no signs of infection. It is dressed with a hydrocolloid dressing, changed every three days; the dressing was last changed on 15 April. Her heel is kept off the mattress with a pillow, and she is repositioned every two hours. As her appetite is poor, she has been started on nutritional supplement drinks twice daily to support healing.
Closing request:
I would be grateful if your staff could continue her dressings and repositioning and contact her GP if the wound shows any signs of infection.
For more on reader-specific transfer letters, see the aged care transfer guide.
Common mistakes
- Copying the wound chart. Daily entries make the letter long and bury the current state.
- Leaving symbols. "↑", "×" and "3/7" should become words.
- Vague descriptions. "The wound is not good" tells the reader nothing; describe what you see.
- No frequency or date. "Dressing required" is incomplete; say what dressing, how often and when it was last done.
- No action. If the reader must watch for something, say what and what to do.
Practise it
Wound details are a good place to test your selection. Try a timed case in practice or paste a letter into check your letter to see which case notes you included, missed or should have left out.
Sources
This guide is medEmu's writing advice, not official OET guidance and not clinical advice; all patients, wounds and case notes are invented. The network used for this run could not reach oet.com, so no OET test facts are stated beyond the criterion names. For OET's official Writing information, see oet.com.