Outline the four phases of wound healing and a key event in each.

Prepare for the Surgical Technology and Patient Care Fundamentals Test. Utilize flashcards and multiple choice questions with detailed explanations. Ace your exam!

Wound healing progresses through four sequential, overlapping phases: hemostasis, inflammation, proliferation, remodeling. The first phase quickly stops bleeding by forming a fibrin clot that seals the wound and provides a temporary matrix for cells. The inflammatory phase follows, with neutrophils arriving to clear bacteria and debris, and then macrophages coordinating tissue repair and signaling other cells. In the proliferation phase, new tissue forms: granulation tissue develops as fibroblasts deposit collagen, new blood vessels grow (angiogenesis), and epithelial cells migrate to cover the wound. The remodeling phase then reshapes and strengthens the repair, realigning collagen fibers and maturing scar tissue as cellularity and vascularity decrease. This sequence accurately captures the standard phases and their characteristic events. Other options mix in nonstandard phases or events (like degeneration, necrosis, or mislabeling processes) that don’t represent the accepted wound-healing progression.