Caring Behaviours of Cardiac Surgery Nurses and Their Knowledge of Pressure Injury Prevention: A Cross-Sectional and...

Pressure injuries remain a significant concern in cardiac surgery patients, despite advancements in prevention strategies. Nurses play a crucial role in mitigating this risk through their knowledge of prevention methods and their caring behaviours in patient care.

This is a cross-sectional study involving regression analysis. A sociodemographic information form, the Care Behaviours Inventory-24, and the Pressure Injury Prevention Knowledge Assessment Tool were used for the research data.

Cardiac surgery nurses were found to have high levels of caring behaviours, with the highest scores in the knowledge and skills sub-dimension. Working in the ICU and having a higher level of education were found to be positive predictors of caring behaviours, whereas not having received training in pressure injury prevention outside of nursing school and working more than 40 h per week were negative predictors of caring behaviours. The study found that the level of knowledge of pressure injury prevention among cardiac surgery nurses was moderate. Although nurses' knowledge regarding the prevention of pressure injuries was not at the desired level, it was found that all sub-dimensions of the relevant scale, except for the sub-dimension of Preventive Interventions to Reduce Pressure/Friction Time, were positive predictors of care behaviour in all regression models.

A high level of education, having received additional training in post-discharge wound care, and knowledge of five of the six sub-dimensions of pressure injury prevention were found to be significant determinants in care behaviour models.