Expertise and impediments in pressure ulcer nursing care – A cross sectional study

Introduction: Pressure ulcer (PU) continues to remain a challenge even though it is a preventable condition and sufficient progress being accomplished in medical field for its prevention and management. The role of nursing staff in PU care is of paramount importance with far reaching consequences. Objective: In the present study we aim to evaluate knowledge on pressure ulcer prevention & care amidst nursing professionals working in direct care with adult and geriatric patients. Methods: It was a cross-sectional study. Pieper´s Pressure Ulcer Knowledge Test (PUKT) was used to assess the knowledge by observing the responses on ulcer assessment, wound assessment and PU prevention. Results: A total of 239 research participants completed the study. The mean of total correct response was 28.46 ± 6.5 with the individual mean for correct response to questions related with ulcer, wound and prevention being 4.02 ± 1.5, 3.81 ± 1.4 and 20.71 ± 4.6 respectively. Maximum correct responses were observed for questions related with prevention of PU. Nursing professionals involved in routine care of patients performed better in all the aspects of knowledge test. The most common barrier identified were lack of sufficient time and inadequate staff followed closely by lack of training/ resources/ equipment/ guidelines. Conclusion: The identification of deficient areas can guide strategic planning for dissemination and adoption of preventive measures which could be adopted by entire interdisciplinary wound care team.