Knowledge and Practices of Surgical Wound Management Among Professional and Student Nurses in Sri Lanka

Abstract

Abstract

Introduction Surgical wound management is a significant part of surgical care. It must have proper technical knowledge, adequate knowledge of infection control, and proper use of wound care products. Nurses have a critical role to play in the management of wound complications by effectively wound assessment, dressing and infection control.Objective This study was conducted to evaluate the level of knowledge and practice associated with the surgical wound management among the professional nurses and student nurses in Western Province of Sri Lanka.Method A quantitative cross-sectional study involved 401 participants of the study (195 of them were professional nurses and 206 were student nurses). The participants were selected based on the multistage cluster sampling method and two institutions were selected using the simple random sampling method in each cluster. The analysis of data was performed with the help of IBM SPSS Statistics version 26. To summarize the socio-demographic factors and levels of knowledge and practice of the study participant’s descriptive statistics were used. Results Among the professional nurses, 28.2% possessed inadequate knowledge, 70.3% possessed average knowledge and 1.5% possessed adequate knowledge regarding surgical wound management. The knowledge of student nurses was found to be inadequate, average, and adequate respectively, at 29.1%, 69.9%, and 1.0% respectively. On the practice, 96.9% of professional nurses practiced adequately, 2.6% and 0.5% of professional nurses practiced averagely and inadequately respectively. Student nurses were 88.3% adequate in their practice, 10.7% average, and 1.0% inadequate. Professional nurses in operation theatres had much more adequate practice than those in other clinical settings. Conclusion The findings of this study show that most professional nurses and student nurses have average knowledge but adequate practice regarding surgical wound management. These findings show that although nurses perform wound care procedures effectively, there may still be gaps in their theoretical understanding. Recommendation Although the level of their clinical practice is considered adequate, their average knowledge levels may mean that they do not fully utilise their skills in surgical wound care. Therefore, any deficits or differences between their theoretical and clinical skills require to be addressed through appropriate ongoing education and training in the hospital settings. It is essential to strengthen nursing education programs, to improve clinical skills and to implement best practice wound care guidelines to improve the competence of nurses. In-service training, workshops and review of current clinical guidelines may also assist nurses in the delivery of a high quality of care and to minimise the risk of surgical site infections. Keywords Surgical wound management, Wound care, Nurses, Nursing students, Surgical site infection