TITLE:
Nurses’ Knowledge, Attitudes and Practice regarding Pressure Ulcers Prevention and Treatment
AUTHORS:
Edouard Niyongabo, Emmanuel Gasaba, Pascal Niyonsenga, Marius Ndayizeye, Jean Bosco Ninezereza, Désiré Nsabimana, Annonciate Nshimirimana, Schadrypeluth Abakundanye
KEYWORDS:
Pressure Ulcers, Nurses, Prevention, Treatment, Knowledge, Attitude, Practice
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Nursing,
Vol.12 No.5,
May
27,
2022
ABSTRACT: Pressure ulcers (PU) are one of the most common hospital-acquired problems that occur in patients with mobility limitations. Such wounds can produce pain and deterioration of the underlying condition. Sometimes, they can be life-threatening, and their treatment can impose a financial burden on both the patient’s family and society. Nurses’ knowledge, attitude, and practice are the most important weapons to fight this preventable burden of PU among patients with impaired mobility. The purpose of this study was to assess nurses’ knowledge, attitude, and practice regarding PU prevention and treatment at Clinique Prince Louis Rwagasore (CPLR) in Bujumbura, Burundi. A cross-sectional study design was used. Convenience sampling was used to invite all 28 qualified nurses and nurses’ aids who work in the services where critically ill patients are admitted to participate. A questionnaire was created, and underwent evaluation of face validity before using it to collect data which was analysed using SPSS 21.0. Results revealed that nurses’ knowledge and practice scores were low as participants scored less than 50% on the six knowledge items and the six practice items. However, the attitude scores were greater than 65% on the five items used to evaluate attitude. A strong negative correlation was found between nurses’ knowledge and their attitude scores (r = ?0.479, p = 0.015). Education level was negatively associated with nurses’ knowledge and practice scores of PU prevention and treatment. A high attitude score did not correlate with a higher practice score which might be explained by low knowledge scores (less than 50% on knowledge items). Continuous professional development (CPD) was recommended to improve nurses’ knowledge scores and implementation of PU preventive practices at CPLR.