Student nurses' knowledge levels and attitudes regarding pressure injury prevention

Area of Science:

• Nursing Education
• Patient Safety
• Clinical Skills

Background:

• Pressure ulcers represent a significant patient safety concern in healthcare settings.
• Effective prevention strategies rely heavily on healthcare professionals' knowledge and attitudes.
• Student nurses form the future nursing workforce, making their preparedness crucial.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the relationship between knowledge levels and attitudes towards pressure ulcer prevention among student nurses.
• To identify potential gaps in student nurses' understanding and preparedness for pressure ulcer prevention.
• To inform the development of targeted educational interventions in nursing programs.

Main Methods:

• A multi-center study involving 426 student nurses from Turkish universities.
• Data collection utilized the "Nurse Introduction Form", "Pressure Sore Prevention Information Survey", and "Attitude Scale towards Preventing Pressure Ulcers".
• Online data collection via Google Forms, analyzed using SPSS 24.0.

Main Results:

• Student nurses achieved a mean score of 18.29 ± 5.98 on the Pressure Sore Prevention Information Survey.
• The mean score on the Attitude Scale towards Preventing Pressure Ulcers was 33.96 ± 4.66.
• A statistically significant, low-level positive relationship was found between nutrition knowledge scores and pressure ulcer prevention attitude scores (p < 0.05).

Conclusions:

• Student nurses exhibited positive attitudes but inadequate knowledge regarding pressure ulcer prevention.
• There is a need to enhance the integration of essential knowledge and skills related to pressure ulcer prevention within nursing educational programs.
• Early and continuous reinforcement of these competencies from the student level is vital for improving patient outcomes.