Nurses’ Bedsore-Related Knowledge in Sanandaj Educational Healthcare Centers

[Background and Purpose]A bed sore is a major problem in hospitalized patients, which can cost a lot for the patients, families, hospitals, health care institutions, and the community as a whole. On the other hand, one of the duties of the nursing staff is the care of the patient’s skin to prevent the formation of an ulcer. In addition, they are also responsible for providing the necessary measures to prevent the onset of pressure ulcers in the hospital. This critical role of nurses itself requires improving their knowledge regarding compression ulcers. The aim of this study was to determine the knowledge level of nurses in Sanandaj sanitary care centers, which was done in 2014 for bedsores.[Methods]This cross-sectional study was conducted in 2014 on 390 nurses from Sanandaj health centers that were selected by the census. Data were collected using the Piperfahr questionnaire. Data analysis was done using the SPSS software and necessary tests.[Results]The rate of correct answers related to the onset of bedsore with the highest frequency being 77.7% in the range of “good”, the bedsore evaluation with the frequency of 48.7% in the range of “average, and that of the bedsore-related knowledge with the highest correct answers of 94.6% in the range of “good”. There was a significant relationship (P < 0.05) between these 2 hospitals in both scopes of evaluation and bedsore onset, however, no relationship was observed between nurses’ age, gender, level of education, as well as their bedsore-related knowledge (P > 0.05).[Conclusions]The results showed that, with the highest frequency of correct answers (86.2%), the nursing knowledge is in an average level. Therefore, their level of knowledge can be promoted by additional relevant learning. Furthermore, the level of knowledge can have a positive effect on the performance.