Orthopaedic nurses' knowledge on prevention of pressure sores.

Abstract

There is a plethora of nursing literature on the prevention of pressure sores, yet there is a paucity of studies exploring nurses' knowledge on the prevention of pressure sores. The aim of this study, was to examine the knowledge on prevention of pressure sores of qualified nurses working in orthopaedic wards in a Maltese General Hospital. A descriptive survey approach was used to fulfil this aim. Nurses' knowledge was assessed by using a self-administered questionnaire and then responses were compared with the literature available on prevention of pressure sores. Findings suggest that knowledge is not uniform amongst all nurses with some being knowledgeable in certain domains of pressure sore prevention and others in other areas. Moreover, it appears that the presence of knowledge is not the only prerequisite for prevention of pressure sores, as several barriers were identified, such as lack of staff support, which hinder the implementation of preventative measures. Recommendations based on the findings, include evaluation of effectiveness of in service courses on long term retention of nurses knowledge, targeting limited resources to patients' at risk and dissemination of journals in orthopaedic wards. Moreover, several suggestions for further research have been made, which include the use of observational and larger scale studies.