Conclusion

The authors have aimed to create a content which helps nurses and other health care practitioners to practice in a way that is as evidence-based as possible. We also hope that this content helps to develop practitioners who work with compassion, recognising that patients with skin disease are often affected in many dimensions of their lives. This may be through physical discomfort, psychological pain or social exclusion. Whatever the impact on individual patients, nurses who understand skin disease are well placed to alleviate suffering. This may be through direct intervention to treat a disease condition or through health promotion to improve skin health and prevent skin disease.