Nursing professional competencies related to quality of care in people with pressure ulcers

Abstract

Introduction: Pressure ulcers are a public health problem. The study provides scientific evidence for quality assurance in nursing clinical practice. Objective: To analyze the relationship of nursing professional competencies with the quality of care in people with pressure ulcers in a public hospital. Methodology: Quantitative approach, cross-sectional, correlational design; sample of 150 patients and 96 nursing professionals, with non-probabilistic sampling. Inclusion criteria: Operational professionals with six months of work experience, from 3 hospitalization services, and patients over 65 years of age with risk and/or presence of pressure ulcers. The Nursing Competencies questionnaire with sociodemographic data for nurses and patients and the Pressure Ulcer Treatment Audit instrument were used, with prior informed consent. Descriptive and inferential statistics were performed with one-factor ANOVA. Results: Among nursing personnel 84.4% were women, with 2 to 25 years of professional experience; 52.1 % had a bachelor's degree. Among patients, 56.7 % were women and 36.7 % had a bachelor's degree. Some 34.4 % were proficient, and in the pressure management dimension, 28.1 % were proficient and in the nutrition dimension, 26 % were beginners. It was obtained that the quality of care was moderately efficient in treatment dimension, giving 36.0 %; inefficient in prevention 46.7 %. The relationship between the variables was statistically non-significant. Conclusion: Three out of 10 nursing professionals were competent for care; in quality of care, patients sensed that almost half of nursing professionals were inefficient for providing prevention.