Abstract

Objective: Ascertain the competence of registered nurses in the visual identification and classification of dermal lesions associated with incontinence, pressure ulcers and mixed lesions. Population and sample: The participants in the study consisted of 46 nursing professionals in the public health services in Chile. All the participants had qualifying clinical hours in the undergraduate program in the assessment of these wounds. Methodology: Quantitative study, exploratory, not experimental. The subjects were presented with 14 pictures of skin lesions chosen according to the criteria of the National Pressure Ulcer Advisory Panel, based on the criteria of Mikel Gray and colleagues. This included five lesions associated with incontinence dermatitis, four pressure ulcer lesions and five mixed lesions. These were to be independently identified and classified utilising a written questionnaire. The answers were coded and processed with the statistical program SPSS 15.0. Statistical descriptions were. Results: The nursing professionals correctly identified an average of 8±2 correct answers from 14 pictures. The lesions that were identified readily were the pressure ulcers with 82% validity, followed by the dermatitis lesions associated solely with incontinence with 57.28%, and the mixed lesions with 30.4%. The subjects also correctly identified the classifications for the pressure ulcers with 45.6%, 23.9% for incontinence-associated dermatitis, and 2.6% for mixed lesions. Conclusion: There is a lack of competence in the classification and identification of pressure ulcers and incontinence-associated dermatitis. The picture that was best identified was the type III pressure ulcer with 95.7% (picture 9). The worst identification was the dermatitis associated solely with incontinence with a 10.9% (picture 2). These findings have a significance impact on the quality of nursing care for the patients with these conditions; they also have a direct repercussion on the appropriate treatment strategies, and may slow skin/wound healing, add days to hospitalisation, and even aggravate the pre-existing pathology.