Perdanakusuma Score in Pressure Injury Compared with Falanga Score: A New Qualitative Wound Assessment Tool

Background: Effective wound assessment is crucial for managing pressure injuries, necessitating a valid and reliable wound bed scoring system that is practical for clinicians. The Falanga score was replaced with the Perdanakusuma score at the Dr. Soetomo General Hospital. However, the accuracy of the Perdanakusuma score remains unclear. This study aimed to assess the accuracy of the Perdanakusuma score compared with the Falanga score, the gold standard for pressure injury assessment. Methods: We reviewed the medical records of 142 patients with pressure injuries who consulted for wound management at the department of plastic, reconstructive, and aesthetic surgery at Dr. Soetomo General Hospital between 2015 and 2019. We compared the accuracy of the Perdanakusuma and Falanga scores using receiver operating characteristic curves and area under the curve. Results: Of the total 142 patients with pressure injuries, 76 were men and 66 were women. The mean age was 47.61 years. Of the pressure injuries, 55.6% were stage III pressure injuries. The area under the curve for the Perdanakusuma scores from D-0 to D-15 treatment were 0.702, 0.724, 0.644, and 0.697, whereas the Falanga scores were 0.769, 0.721, 0.631, and 0.576, respectively. Conclusions: The Perdanakusuma score is a more accurate diagnostic tool for assessing pressure injuries than the Falanga score. Implementing a reliable wound bed scoring system such as the Perdanakusuma score would permit appropriate and timely treatment and improve communication on wound progress, thereby improving the healing rate.