Nurses Practice Regarding Post-operative Wound Care And Its Associated Factors Of Hospitalised Patients In Public Hospitals Of Mekelle City, Tigray, Ethiopia, 2018/19.

Abstract

Background: Post-operative wound care is a care that applied sterile gauze or bandage to wound to promote healing and protect the wound from further harm after surgical operation is done internally or externally to the involved organs. Post-operative Wound care is a nursing duty that requires excellent skills and knowledge to prevent massive complications such as infection, gangrene and amputation or, in severe cases, even death. Methods: Hospital based cross sectional study design was implemented and the total sample size was 375 nurses working in Ayder Comprehensive Specialized Hospital, Mekelle Hospital and Quiha hospital. Pre-test was done on 10 % of the sample size. Data was collected by observation and face to face interviewing using pre tested checklist and structured questionnaire respectively from March 20, 2019 to May 20, 2019. Simple random sampling was used. Data was coded, entered and analyzed using SPSS version 22.0 for statistical analysis. Binary logistic regression analysis was used to determine the predictor variables to the outcome variables with 95% confidence level at p-value of < 0.25 and finally p-value < 0.05 was described as statically significant. Result: A total of 375 respondents were participated in the study. Among them, 234(62.4%) were women. The overall nursing post-operative wound care practices were poor 258(68.8%). Work experience (AOR=0.47, 95%CI; 0.26-0.86), level of education (AOR=0.03, 95%CI; 0.004-0.25) and lack of materials (AOR=0.29, 95%CI; 0.09-0.89) was found to be associated with nurses post-operative wound care practice. Conclusion and recommendation: Factors such as work experience, educational level and lack of materials were statically significant association with nurses post-operative wound care practice. Highly qualified nurses should be engaged in training of other staff nurses in the tenderized dressing techniques of postoperative wounds.