OBJECTIVE: The terms and definitions work group objective was to develop a common language regarding support surface design and technology that could be clearly understood by clinicians, engineers and the support surface.

METHOD: The Terms and Definitions Committee Meetings included several dozen individuals, including clinicians from multiple disciplines, academics, engineers and industry representatives. These dedicated members ultimately produced a list of terms to be defined and literature searches and references and citations were sought. Eventually the definitions evolved and were re-visited based upon feedback from the larger group of S3I members and the NPUAP. The NPUAP web-site was used to disseminate the new definitions for public comment which was reviewed extensively. OUTCOMES: The results of the online survey were analyzed and refined and a final vote was taken in June, 2006. The terms and definitions recommended by the S3I are now available on the NPUAP web site, www.NPUAP.org. This new standardized language is vital to the development of performance testing measures that will guide the design of future support surface technology.

CONCLUSION: The objective was to develop a common language regarding support surface design and technology that could be clearly understood by clinicians, engineers and the support surface industry. The tissue integrity work group will continue its work in the development and implementation of valid and reliable test methods that will lay the groundwork for reporting and categorizing the different support surface designs and technologies. This work will assist the clinician in making informed decisions. Without both standardized support surface language and technical testing and reporting methods, the science of support surface therapy cannot progress.