Senior Baccalaureate Nursing Students’ Knowledge and Visual Differentiation Ability for the Pressure Injury Classification System and Incontinence-associated Dermatitis

Abstract

Purpose: This study aimed to evaluate senior baccalaureate nursing students’ knowledge and visual differentiation ability for the pressure injury classification system (PICS) and incontinence-associated dermatitis (IAD).Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted using a paper-based questionnaire with 120 senior baccalaureate nursing students in South Korea. Data were collected using a knowledge test (KT) and a visual differentiation tool (VDT) based on 21 photographs with clinical information related to PICS and IAD.Results: Students had relatively high KT scores (62.6%), and low VDT scores (35.6%). Critical issues in this study were nursing students’ lack of an adequate visual differentiation ability to accurately assess the stage of pressure injury and IAD and their higher level of confusion in identifying unstageable, deep tissue injuries, and IAD compared to stage 1-4 injuries. Satisfaction with education (r=.20, p<.05) and exposure to various teaching methods (r=.21, p<.05) exhibited significant correlations with higher VDT scores.Conclusion: The findings of this study suggest that increasing students’ satisfaction with their education and applying various teaching methods can contribute to the improvement of visual differentiation ability in PICS.