Nurses’ Knowledge and Barriers to Perform Pressure Ulcer Prevention Practices

Abstract

Background: The healthcare system continues to struggle with a serious pressure ulcer problem. Patients suffer as a result of it, and its financial cost is also getting worse. Pressure ulcers still persist and can happen in both hospital and community settings, despite recent improvements in prevention and treatment. There are only a few pressure ulcer studies in Iraq. This study seeks to investigate pressure ulcer prevention knowledge levels and knowledge sources, as well as obstacles to adopting pressure ulcer prevention recommendations among Iraqi nurses. Methods: A self-administered questionnaire was used to gather information from 225 staff nurses with bachelor degrees and higher working in three hospitals in Iraq. The study was cross-sectional in design. Their knowledge of pressure ulcer prevention, the sources of that knowledge, and the obstacles that impede effective pressure ulcer treatment and prevention were evaluated from April to October of 2022. To describe nurses' levels of knowledge and obstacles to preventing pressure ulcers, means, standard deviation, and frequencies were employed. Results: Most nurses lacked adequate knowledge about how to prevent pressure ulcers. With the lowest score in topics linked to overall knowledge about the etiology and development of pressure ulcer, the mean scores for total knowledge about the etiology and development of pressure ulcer were 0.32 (SD = 0.217). The most commonly stated obstacles to conducting pressure ulcer risk assessment, documentation, and prevention were a lack of training and education concerning pressure ulcer prevention, a staffing shortage, and a lack of policies, instructions, and recommendations on the prevention of bedsores. Conclusions: This study raises questions about the pressure ulcer prevention knowledge of Iraqi nurses. Based on recommendations from the National Pressure Ulcer Advisory Panel, the findings of the current study revealed that Iraqi nurses had insufficient knowledge of pressure ulcer prevention. Additionally, the lack of a correlation between years of experience and pressure ulcer awareness and the low level of understanding of pressure ulcers among nurse’s point to poor diffusion of information about pressure ulcers in Iraq.