Abstract:
Aims and objectives: To assess nurses’ knowledge on diabetic ulcer disease and their
attitudes towards patients suffering from it and to identify factors which influence them.
Background: Diabetic wound care is an evolving specialty with the rising prevalence
of diabetes foot complications. As nurses play a key role in wound care, their
knowledge and attitudes are important in providing optimum care to patients.
Design: Descriptive cross-sectional survey design.
Methods: The study was conducted in three teaching hospitals. Data were collected
using a pretested, validated, self-administered questionnaire from purposively
recruited, voluntarily participating nurses (n = 200) who were in diabetic wound
care practice for ≥1 year.
Results: Lack of formal wound care training was reported by 91.2%. Mean knowledge
score was 77.9 (range 53.3–100 on a scale from 0–100) with 57.8% of nurses
obtaining ≥80%. Nurses demonstrated an overall positive attitude towards caring
for diabetic ulcer patients (median = 41, range 23–50 on a scale from 10–50). However,
the study identified deficits in core knowledge and some negative attitudes
such as insensitivity to pain. Statistically significant associations were seen between
nurses’ knowledge and duration of nursing, wound care experience and the type of
unit they are attached to. In-service education (77.2%) and knowledge sharing with
peers (77.9%) were the most popular knowledge-updating sources. Although 98.6%
of nurses were interested in wound care, only 8.3% wished to engage in research.
No correlation was observed between nurses’ knowledge and attitudes.
Conclusion: Gaps in core knowledge and negative attitudes may be attributed to
inadequate training, suboptimal update of knowledge and lack of interest in wound
care research.
Relevance to clinical practice: Wound care training should be made mandatory to
improve quality of care given by nurses to patients with diabetic ulcers. Continuous
professional development, evidence-based practices and wound care research
should be encouraged.
