The first edition of the guideline was developed as a two year collaboration between the National Pressure Injury Advisory Panel (NPIAP) and the European Pressure Ulcer Advisory Panel (EPUAP). In the second edition of the guideline, the Pan Pacific Pressure Injury Alliance (PPPIA) joined the NPIAP and EPUAP.

For the 2019 edition, the EPUAP, NPIAP and PPPIA were joined by 14 international Associate Organizations, 168 international pressure injury experts working in small working groups, 699 stakeholders and over 1200 patient consumers and their caregivers.

The third edition of the guideline was released in November 2019. The goal of this international collaboration was to develop evidence-based recommendations for the prevention and treatment of pressure injuries that could be used by health professionals throughout the world. An explicit scientific methodology has been used to identify and critically appraise all available research.

The 2019 version contains an updated review of the research literature and recommendations that reflect the most recent evidence. It provides a detailed analysis and discussion of available research, critical evaluation of the assumptions and knowledge in the field, recommendations for clinical practice, good practice statements, implementation considerations, a description of the methodology used to develop the guideline and acknowledgements of the many experts formally involved in the development process.