Article

AIM : To assess for differences in knowledge of pressure ulcer (PU) prevention and
management among nurses working in two metropolitan spinal cord injury (SCI)
units, and between nurses and rehabilitation registrars (doctors).
There is anecdotal evidence of wide variation in PU management. An understanding
of current knowledge is fundamental to evidence-based practice implementation.
This was a prospective survey, using a multiple choice question format
developed with nurse wound specialists. A total of 10 questions assessed PU
prevention and 10 assessed management. It was distributed to nurses working at
the spinal units and rehabilitation registrars. The results from the groups were
analysed for similarities and differences using one- and two-way analysis of
variance (ANOVA) tests and tests for significance of specific linear combinations
of group means. RESULTS: The response rate was 79% (19/24) and 71% (20/ 28) from
the two SCI units, and 46% (13/28) from doctors. Doctors performed better than
nurses on prevention questions (P<0.005) but worse on management (P<0.05). There
was a significant difference in management knowledge (P<0.001) between nurses
working in the two units but not in prevention knowledge (P<0.5) and
interestingly years of experience did not correlate with performance (P<0.2 for
prevention and P<0.5 for management questions). CONCLUSIONS: Rehabilitation
registrars score better in prevention questions, but poorer in management
questions, which reflects academic rather than experiential knowledge. There are
also differences in management knowledge among nurses, based on work area rather
than years of experience. Although knowledge does not necessarily reflect
practice, this calls for better standardisation and implementation of wound
management pathways.

Langue : ANGLAIS