Postoperative Wound Care Practices of Acute Care Nurses: An Integrative Review

This integrative review aimed to describe the postoperative wound care practices and knowledge of nurses in acute care settings. Whittemore and Knafl's framework was used to identify and synthesise relevant studies. Full-text, primary articles published after 2000, focusing on postoperative wound care by nurses in hospital settings, were included. Quality appraisal was undertaken using the Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool (MMAT) for qualitative and quantitative studies and the Standards for QUality Improvement Reporting Excellence (SQUIRE) 2.0 for quality improvement (QI) studies. Five databases were searched (MEDLINE, Scopus, CINAHL, Embase and Web of Science) in August 2024. Of the 5329 studies, 36 articles were included. Inductive content analysis was used for data synthesis. Three categories were identified: Variation in using a holistic approach impacts optimal wound care practice, nurses' surgical wound care practices are shaped by individual factors, organisational support, and resource availability, and nurses' participation in surgical wound care is influenced by role clarity and multidisciplinary collaboration. In conclusion, this integrative review highlights that acute care nurses predominantly focused on technical dressing procedures with limited emphasis on comprehensive assessment, documentation, nutrition and patient education. Therefore, adopting a more holistic approach in surgical wound care could minimize practice variations among nurses.