Moore Z, Price P. (2004).

Moore Z, Price P. (2004). Nurses' attitudes, behaviors and perceived barriers towards pressure ulcer prevention. Journal of Clinical Nursing, 13 (8):942 -- 952.

Retrieved December 17, 2010. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2702.2004.00972.x.

According to Zena Moore and Patricia Price (2004), pressure ulcers, more commonly known as bedsores continue to be a problem in most hospital and extended care facilities around the world. Despite the fact that bedsores have existed since virtually the beginning of recorded medical history, no foolproof method exists to deal with them. However, patient's suffering can be greatly reduced with appropriate prophylactic care. Improved treatment of bedsores is essential, given that if the wounds are left untreated, infection as well as a loss of dignity and comfort can result for the patient.

The authors conducted their cross-sectional survey upon a randomly selected sample of three hundred staff nurses at an urban acute care section of an Irish hospital. This setting was selected to maximize the demographic diversity of the nurses surveyed. The purpose of the researchers was to determine the relationship of nursing attitudes towards pressure ulcers to the practical steps the nurses undertook to prevent pressure ulcers and to the perceived barriers to effective pressure ulcer preventative care.

Overall, the results of the survey indicated that nurses appreciated the need for pressure ulcer prevention and care. They also seemed to possess the necessary, required knowledge to engage in effective preventative techniques. But in the actual, rushed environment of the hospital, appropriate preventative care was not always administered in an effective manner. A lack of time and understaffing were the most frequently-cited reasons for nurses' failure to implement effective preventative procedures.

According to the study's authors, they believed that attitude of healthcare managers and administrators were another, unforeseen barrier in implementing effective nursing care. Bedsore prevention was not given priority in the 'benchmarks' used to grade nursing effectiveness and insufficient care and attention was devoted to ensuring that nurses followed standardized preventative procedures. Nurses themselves cited many perceived barriers to being able to take full precautions, including a lack of time, having to work long shifts and being over-tired, and a lack of emphasis on such routine patient care overall.

An important implication of this study is that nursing knowledge does not automatically translate into effective nursing practice. It also shows that an intellectual awareness of the seriousness of a health problem such as bedsores likewise does not cause a behavioral change unless there are radical changes in the nursing environment as a whole, and implementation must be supported on a holistic level. Overburdened nurses face obstacles that prevent adequate oversight of patients and inhibit the administration routine, essential care, such as the patient being turned in his or her bed, changing of dressings, etcetera.