Assessment of Nurses’ Knowledge in ICU and HDU on the Prevention and Management of Pressure Ulcers

Abstract

The pressure ulcers constitute a major clinical problem with enormous socioeconomic consequences worldwide.
Nurses' knowledge of the management of pressure ulcers plays a key role in the prevalence of pressure ulcers,
especially in patients admitted to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and the High – Dependency Unit (HDU). Aim: The
investigation of nurses’ knowledge, working in ICU and HDU of two general hospitals, regarding the prevention
and management of pressure ulcers. Material and Method: It is a cross-sectional study using a structured selfadministered questionnaire. The sample consisted of 41 nurses working in ICU and HDU of two general hospitals in Attica, Greece. The collection of data took place from March 2020 until June 2020. The statistical analysis of data
was performed using IBM SPSS v.21.0. Results: A total of 41 (n=41) nurses participated in the study, of which 82.9%
(n=34) were women and 17.1% (n=7) were men. The average age was 39.8±5.9 years, with an average work experience of 13.8±8.1 years. All participants (100%) knew the definition of the pressure ulcer. The 92.7% (n=38) of the
participants answered correctly at least half of the knowledge questions. Nurses' knowledge was positively correlated with educational level (p=0.04). No statistically significant results were found for gender (p=0.3), age (p=0.8),
the years of work experience (p=0.2), the hospital (p=0.4) and the related seminars organized in the hospital (p=0.1).
Conclusions: Nurses' knowledge of the management of pressure ulcers was found to be relatively good. Despite
the development of nursing science in the treatment of pressure ulcers, nurses continue to present insufficient
knowledge in the daily clinical practice. The implementation of clinical guidelines as well as the continuing education courses may help nurses to enhance their knowledge.