Browsing by Author "Adewale, Muideen Adekola"

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    Nurses' wound care practices and treament outcomes in Obafemi Awolowo University teaching hospitals complex, Ile-Ife, Nigeria.
    (Department of Nursing Science, Faculty of Basic Medical Sciences, Obafemi Awolowo University., 2022) Adewale, Muideen Adekola
    This study assessed nurses‘ knowledge of wound care, described the nurses‘ wound care practices, appraised nurses‘ wound dressing skills, identified barriers to the implementation of best wound care practice, and assessed the treatment outcomes of wound management in Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospitals Complex (OAUTHC), Ile Ife. These were with a view to improving nurses‘ wound care practices in Nigeria. The study employed a concurrent mixed methods design. Ethical approval was obtained from the Ethics and Research Committee of OAUTHC, Ile-Ife. All nurses in selected units of the hospital, who consented to participating in the study, formed the sample (254) for the quantitative phase of the study. The sample for the qualitative phase comprised 12 key informants. Data collection was conducted using a structured questionnaire, observation checklist and key informant interview guide. In addition, 143 case folders were reviewed and 30 patients were monitored for treatment outcomes. Data collection spanned over two months. Quantitative data collected were analysed with descriptive (frequency counts and percentages) and inferential statistics such as Kruskal Walli‘s and multiple logistic regression. Alpha level was set at p<0.05. The qualitative data was analysed using content and thematic analysis, with both quantitative and qualitative findings integrated before inferences were drawn. The quantitative results revealed that 41% of the nurses possessed a fair knowledge of wound care, 38% had good knowledge while 21% possessed poor knowledge. The majority (63.3%) demonstrated moderate wound dressing skills, while 20% possessed high skills and 16.7% had low skills. The results revealed gaps in wound care practices particularly in the area of infection control among the nurses. The results also established a significant association between clinical specialities and wound care practices (P = 0.014). Certification in wound care was particularly found to be a predictor of wound care knowledge among the nurses (P= 0.002; OR – 3.707; CI 8.564–1.607). The qualitative findings identified certain barriers to effective wound care practices in the study setting. These were financial constraints; lack of facilities; lack of opportunity for advanced training on wound care; disproportionate staff/patient ratio; non-availability of material resources such as modern wound dressing agents; and patients‘ non-compliance or poor adherence with clinic appointments. As regards the outcome of care, results showed that the majority (>60%) of the wounds recorded significant improvement with patients subsequently discharged home, leaving just 26.6% (which were mainly cases of extensive burn injury, oncology, diabetes mellitus) still receiving treatment as of the time of concluding the study. The study concluded that the overall nurses‘ wound care practices in the setting was relatively good and thus reflected in good treatment outcome, but there were deficiencies in their wound dressing infection control practices.