The purpose of this study was to determine the knowledge of nurses working in ICU with respect to pain management, glycaemic control and weaning from mechanical ventilation, care areas that are commonly guided by protocols. The effect of formal ICU training and years of ICU experience on this knowledge was elicited. A non-experimental, descriptive and contextual two-phase research design was used. The first phase of the study consisted of developing and validating a data collection instrument, using purposive sampling to select two groups of ICU nursing experts. The second phase of the study used the instrument developed in phase one to test the knowledge of nurses working in ICU. The knowledge of 136 ICU nurses (68 ICU trained and 68 non-ICU trained) from three (n=3) public sector and two (n=2) private sector hospitals in Gauteng was tested using the data collection instrument developed by the researcher and the two groups of ICU nursing experts. Knowledge of nurses, both ICU trained and non-ICU trained, working in the ICUs of three public and two private hospitals in Gauteng was found to be lacking in the three care areas tested in this study, namely pain management, glycaemic control and weaning from mechanical ventilation. The difference in knowledge between ICU trained and non-ICU trained nurses was statistically significant but relatively small. A weak correlation was found between level of knowledge and years of ICU experience. Recommendations to address this lack of knowledge of ICU nurses are given for clinical nursing practice, nursing management and nursing educators, as well as recommendations for further research in this area.

Trycksår är en vårdrelaterad skada vars prevalens är utbredd på sjukhus i Sverige.Denna hudskada uppkommer när ett ihållande tryck orsakar att underliggandevävnad skadas. Riktlinjer finns utformade för hur preventionsarbetet med trycksårska utföras, och syftar till att minska prevalensen av trycksår. Syftet med studienvar att undersöka sjuksköterskors syn på trycksårsprevention relaterat till patientersom ligger inlagda på somatisk vårdavdelning. De undersökningsmetoder somanvändes var av både kvalitativ och kvantitativ ansats. Materialet samlades in viaenkäter och det slutliga informantantalet uppgick till 29 informanter. Analysengenomfördes utifrån manifest innehållsanalys och deskriptiv statistik. Det resultatsom framkom i studien visade att 72 % av informanterna ansåg att de hade ettbehov av att öka sin kunskap om trycksår. Av de informanter som deltog i studienkände 86 % till de rutiner och riktlinjer för trycksårsprevention som fanns påavdelningen. Av de informanter som hade anställningsformen vikariat ellermånadsanställning kände endast hälften till rutinerna och riktlinjerna. Samtligainformanter som hade någon form av vidareutbildning ansåg att trycksår var enprioriterad omvårdnadsåtgärd, till skillnad från de som inte hade någonvidareutbildning där endast 75 % av informanterna ansåg att det var prioriterat. / Pressure ulcer is a care related injury that has a broad prevalence in the hospitalsof Sweden. This dermatological injury appears when a constant pressure createsdamage to the underlying tissue. Guidelines have been formed towards the workof pressure ulcer prevention, which aims to minimize the prevalence of pressureulcers. The aim of this study was to examine nurses’ view on pressure ulcerprevention in relation to patients admitted to a somatic ward. The methods ofexamination used had both a qualitative and a quantitative approach. The materialwas collected through questionnaires and the final number of informantsamounted to 29. The methods of analysis used were manifest content analysis aswell as descriptive statistics. The result of the study demonstrated that 72 % of theinformants considered that they had a need to increase their knowledge aboutpressure ulcers. Among the informants that participated in the study, 86 %acknowledged knowledge about the wards’ routines and guidelines for pressureulcer prevention. Only half of the informants that were deputies or had a monthlyemployment knew about these routines and guidelines. All of the informants thathad any form of further education thought of pressure ulcer prevention as aprioritized act of nursing, a result that differs from the informants with no form offurther education amongst whom only 75 % thought of pressure ulcer preventionas prioritized.

The study sought to gain an in-depth understanding of the knowledge and skills regarding rehabilitation of mental health care users of nurses who work at a psychiatric rehabilitation centre, in order to design a continuing professional development plan for registered and enrolled nurses. The researcher used a qualitative, exploratory descriptive design to explore the knowledge and skills of nurses who practise in a psychiatric rehabilitation centre dealing with the rehabilitation of mental health care users. Four themes emerged from the data that were collected from four focus groups: knowledge of the rehabilitation process; the need for continuing professional development; nursing skills required for the implementation of psychiatric rehabilitation and means of communication within psychiatric rehabilitation. The researcher devised a continuing professional development plan, including topics on the management of the mentally ill, the problems associated with mental illness and rehabilitation appropriate to the mental illness. / Health Studies / M. A. (Health Studies)

The study sought to gain an in-depth understanding of the knowledge and skills regarding rehabilitation of mental health care users of nurses who work at a psychiatric rehabilitation centre, in order to design a continuing professional development plan for registered and enrolled nurses. The researcher used a qualitative, exploratory descriptive design to explore the knowledge and skills of nurses who practise in a psychiatric rehabilitation centre dealing with the rehabilitation of mental health care users. Four themes emerged from the data that were collected from four focus groups: knowledge of the rehabilitation process; the need for continuing professional development; nursing skills required for the implementation of psychiatric rehabilitation and means of communication within psychiatric rehabilitation. The researcher devised a continuing professional development plan, including topics on the management of the mentally ill, the problems associated with mental illness and rehabilitation appropriate to the mental illness. / Health Studies / M. A. (Health Studies)