Investigating the level of knowledge and attitude of pressure ulcer prevention among rehabilitation team members

pressure ulcer (PU) as one of the serious complications of hospitalization in health care centers increases the caregiver burden, morbidity and mortality of patients, the frequency and duration of hospitalization, and reduces the quality of treatment, and imposes huge costs on health systems and increase the pain and suffering of patients. Therefore, the present study was conducted with the aim of investigating the level of knowledge and attitude of pressure ulcer prevention among rehabilitation team members in Rafidah Rehabilitation Hospital.

This research was a cross-sectional study that was conducted in 2022 in Rofeydeh Rehabilitation Hospital, Tehran, Iran. Demographic information of 107 members of the rehabilitation team working in Rafidah Rehabilitation Hospital using the full count method during a period of 8 weeks and using the Piper Pressure Ulcer Prevention Knowledge Test (PPUKT) and the Beckman Pressure Ulcer Prevention Attitude Tool (APUP) were gathered. The collected data were analyzed in Spss software version 28 using chi-score and independent t tests at a significance level of 0.05.

The majority of the rehabilitation team members were women (78.5%), were over 30 years old (52.3%), and had a bachelor's degree (51.4%) and clinical work experience of more than 5 years (66.4%). and not having a history of participating in pressure ulcer training courses (70%). The average score of knowledge of team members was weak (56.71) and the attitude of team members was favorable (76.04). The findings showed that there was no significant relationship between the knowledge and attitude of rehabilitation team members with gender, age, education level and clinical work experience. While there was a significant relationship between the knowledge and attitude of the rehabilitation team members with the history of participating in pressure ulcer training courses.

Based on the results of the present study, the rehabilitation team members had poor knowledge and favorable attitude. Considering the poor knowledge of the rehabilitation team members, it is recommended that the nursing and rehabilitation field administrators plan training and practical workshops on the prevention of pressure ulcers to improve the knowledge level of the team members.