Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2020 Oct 19;17(20):7610.
doi: 10.3390/ijerph17207610.

Investigating Nurses' Views on Care of Mentally Ill Patients with Skin Injuries

Evridiki Kaba  1 , Aikaterini Triantafyllou  1 , Georgia Fasoi  1 , Martha Kelesi  1 , Areti Stavropoulou  1
Affiliations

Investigating Nurses' Views on Care of Mentally Ill Patients with Skin Injuries

Evridiki Kaba et al. Int J Environ Res Public Health. .

Abstract

Background: Individuals with mental illness are at increased risk of skin injuries. The role of nurses in skin injury prevention and management is crucial and therefore their views on wound care may provide useful information for improving the quality of the care provided.

Aim: To investigate nurses' views on care of mentally ill patients with skin injuries.

Method: A qualitative research design based on the principles of grounded theory approach was followed. Unstructured interviews were conducted with seven nurses working in psychiatric wards with frequent skin injuries. Data were analyzed using the constant comparative method of analysis.

Results: Two main themes were emerged from data analysis. The first main theme, namely factors affecting the care of patients with skin injuries, included seven categories: (a) shortage of hospital supplies, equipment and services (b) staff shortages, (c) lack of knowledge, (d) nurses' resistance to change, (e) difficulty in collaborating with patients, (f) patients' physical conditions and (g) nurses' attitudes as an obstacle to care. The second main theme, namely nurses' suggestions for optimizing care, included five categories: (a) need for additional staff, (b) need for increasing hospital supplies and equipment availability, (c) need for training (d) need of changing nurses' attitudes towards care and (e) need of changing the patients' approach to collaboration.

Conclusion: The care of mentally ill patients with skin injuries is affected by multidimensional factors that have a direct impact on the quality of nurses' work and patients' hospitalization. Specific efforts are needed to overcome the obstacles that hinder the care provided and to improve clinical practice.

Keywords: grounded theory; mental health nurses; mentally ill patients; qualitative research; skin injuries; views.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

References

    1. De Hert M., Correll C.U., Bobes J., Cetkovich-Bakmas M., Cohen D., Asai I., Detraux J., Gautam S., Möller H.J., Ndetei D.M., et al. Physical illness in patients with severe mental disorders. I. Prevalence, impact of medications and disparities in health care. World Psychiatry. 2011;10:52–77. doi: 10.1002/j.2051-5545.2011.tb00014.x. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Hemingway S., Cook L., Stephenson J. Assessing and managing wounds in mental health settings. Wounds. 2013;9:34–39.
    1. Pegram A., Bloomfield J. Wound care: Principles of aseptic technique. Mental Health Pract. 2010;14:14–18. doi: 10.7748/mhp2010.10.14.2.14.c8008. - DOI
    1. Hinchliffe M., Linthwaite A. The use of LQD® spray dressing in patients with acute and chronic wounds in two mental health settings. Wound Care Today. 2019;1:1–12.
    1. Firth J., Siddiqi N., Koyanagi A., Siskind D., Rosenbaum S., Galletly C., Allan S., Caneo C., Carney R., Carvalho A.F., et al. The Lancet Psychiatry Commission: A blueprint for protecting physical health in people with mental illness. Lancet Psychiatry. 2019;6:675–712. doi: 10.1016/S2215-0366(19)30132-4. - DOI - PubMed

Publication types