Abstract:
Background: Surgical site infections are one of the most common healthcare associated
infections and account for 3.2 billion cost per year in acute care hospitals. It is the most
frequent cause of 20% unplanned re-admissions after surgery which leads to increased
morbidity and mortality. Nurses are the healthcare group which is directly involved in the
management of surgical wounds and surgical site infections.
Objective: To assess the knowledge and practices of nurses on surgical site wound dressing
among nurses at National Hospital for Respiratory Disease (NHRD)
Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted among 150 nurses at NHRD.
They were selected by simple random sampling method and a pre-tested, self-administered
questionnaire was used to collect data during August, 2019. Data were analyzed using
descriptive statistics on SPSS version 23.
Results: Among the 150 nurses, 94% were female and 6% were males and most of them were
in between 31-40 years of age. Fifty four percent of nurses had no clear idea regarding purpose
of dressing, but 63% aware some important facts of dressing. Eighty eight percent had clear
idea regarding sterility maintaining. Majority, 79.3% (n = 119) and 92.7% (n = 139) of nurses
had a satisfactory knowledge regarding sterility period and sterile packets respectively. Around
96% nurses had sufficient knowledge regarding the order of wound dressing and types.
Majority of nurses (96%, n = 144) had satisfactory practices regarding wound dressing, similar
proportion had satisfactory practices regarding medical hand washing procedures. Only 10% of
nurses had gained knowledge on dressing from in service programs.
Conclusions: Nurses had sufficient knowledge and practice in surgical wound dressing. It is
needed to update and maintain the knowledge and practical skills about surgical wound
management for nurses through in-service training.
