An evaluation of educational requirements for community nurses treating dermatological patients

In a questionnaire to community nurses treating dermatological patients, 14 out of 69 (20%) either treated children or gave advice to parents regarding childhood eczema, 35 (51%) treated adult eczema, 11 (16%) treated psoriasis, 55 (80%) treated leg ulcers, and 30 (43%) treated other dermatological problems. Specific questions regarding confidence to treat or educate were analysed in relation to the tasks being performed. All but 15% (8/55) treating leg ulcers were confident about their ability to apply four-layer bandaging. However, 8 out of 11 (72%) respondents treating psoriasis were not confident about their ability to treat scalp scaling, 11 out of 14 (79%) of those treating childhood eczema were not confident about applying body suiting, and 26 out of 36 (72%) of those treating eczema (any age), were not confident about ability to recognize infection as a cause or complication of dermatoses. The favoured educational modalities were visits to the local dermatology department (60/69, 87%), availability of a dermatology Nurse Practitioner or Liaison Nurse, or access to a hospital nurse-run dermatology clinic (both 44/69, 63%), or attendance at courses (36/69, 52%). Community nurses have an important role in treating and educating patients who may not require or be able to attend hospitals for treatment; they will achieve this best by provision of relevant locally based education, with allocation of adequate study time.