Attitudes of nurses towards pressure ulcer prevention guidelines in a Kenyan hospital

Abstract

Introduction Pressure ulcers pose a major challenge to quality of life, and increase the risk for mortality and morbidity. Numerous guidelines have been developed to prevent them, yet the global prevalence is 4.7-18.7%. The main aim was to determine the nurses’ attitude towards Nursing Council of Kenya (NCK) guidelines on pressure ulcer prevention. Methods This was a descriptive cross sectional study, whose target population was 400nurses in Embu County. The study population was 200 nurses working in Embu Level 5 Hospital. Two sampling methods, that is stratified random sampling followed by systematic random sampling were used. Sample size was 145 respondents and the tool for data collection was a questionnaire. Research permission was obtained from National Commission for Science Technology and Innovation (NACOSTI). Data was analysed using statistical package for social sciences version 21. Findings Majority (63.6%) of the nurses had a positive attitude towards the guidelines. Attitude had a significant association with knowledge on NCK guidelines at p=<0.05, but did not significantly influence adherence to NCK guidelines. Conclusion The researcher concluded that the attitude towards NCK guidelines was positive, and that nurse’s knowledge of the guidelines influenced their attitudes positively.