Assessing Nursing Practices Regarding Standard Approaches on Post-Operative Wound Care Dressing

Abstract

Background and Objective:  Post-operative delay wound dressing causes a wound contamination or delay wound healing process. Wound leakage and smell produce acute wounds changed into chronic wound conditions. This study assessed the nursing practices regarding standard approaches used for post-operative wound dressing and its care.

Materials and Methods:  A cross-sectional observational study designed with study population n = 150 in female nurses of two intensive care units and three surgical wards units: I-II-III. Data was collectedusing an adopted, observation checklist. Reliability tested by Cronbach alpha, 0.92. The mean scorewas categorized following rules, less than (1.5) was considered low (L), from (1.5-2.5) considered moderate (M), and greater than (>2.5) was considered high (H).

Results:  The results indicated that 55.3% of nurses had 32 – 38 of age and 48.7% were BS nursing education. According to the mean score majority of nurses had medium (M) and low (L) wound dressing practices observed. Plaster not present (52%) during dressing. 73.3% of nurses had not ensured privacy. The commonpractices were found, no handwashing before and after wound dressing.

Conclusion:  The majority of the nurses were not following the standardized wound dressing checklist. According to the study, findings recommended the education sessions, seminars, frequent departmental observation, and psychomotor simulation practices that need to be discussed with clinical professionals.