A Survey of Wound Care Practices by Nurses in a Clinical Setting

Background: Nurse practitioners play a vital role in wound care and management because of the prevalence of wounds in the community and hospital setting. Aims and objectives: The purpose was to identify current knowledge and practices of nurses with respect to wound management. Method: A qualitative descriptive research was designed, nineteen nurses in wound care wards in Bingham University teaching hospital were recruited into this study. This was achieved with the aid of a self-administered questionnaire for a two-week period. Results: Three groups of nurses responded to this survey (73.7% males; 31.6% aged 31-40 years). Registered nurses dominated (68.4%), majority of them worked in male ward (36.8%) and private ward (36.8%). Almost on full-time (94.7%), more than half were diploma holders (57.9%) with 1 to 5 years of experience (47.4%). Majority (84.2%) were involved in wound treatment and management, there were significant association between years of experience and wound classification, wound treatment, treatment failure and treatment failure factors. Conclusion: Wound care practices require accurate knowledge and assessment skills, a better understanding of wound management provides comprehensible, rapid patient wound care and minimizes patient mortality as well as reduces health services financial costs.