Nurses' attitudes and perceived barriers to pressure ulcer prevention in Jordan

To explore Jordanian nurses' attitudes toward pressure ulcer prevention and to identify their perceived barriers to care in pressure ulcer prevention.

A cross-sectional multi-centre study was undertaken in four hospitals in Jordan. The registered nurses and nurse assistants working at these sites were requested to complete a self-administered questionnaire.

In total, 428 completed questionnaires were returned. The participant nurses hold positive attitudes regarding pressure ulcers prevention (mean=3.91). The only factor that seems to have an effect on the positive attitude was the experience of the participants (χ²[2, n=227]=6.38; [=0.041). The positive attitude was enhanced with increased number of years of experience. Several barriers to good practice were reported by the participants, including: lack of staff (86.2%), time (83.6%), and patient conditions (68.6%).

Findings of this study suggest that positive attitudes are not enough to change practice. Several barriers need to be resolved first if effective prevention is to be provided. This should form a reference dataset that needs to be addressed in the tissue viability field in Jordan, which is still in its infancy.

There were no external sources of funding for this study. The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare with regard to the article or its content.