Nursing professionals’ need knowledge about pressure ulcer (PU) prevention, as practice frequently is not based on evidence. In Brazil, nursing staff is composed of registered nurses (RN), nursing technicians (NT) and nursing auxiliaries (NA). The study aimed to identify the knowledge of nursing team members at a university hospital about PU prevention, explore the relationship between a knowledge test scores, sociodemographic variables and strategies used to find scientific information. The proposal was approved by IRB and all participants signed an informed consent. Data collection took place in hospital wards between January and March 2009, through a structured and validated instrument that included subjects’ characteristics and Pieper’s Pressure Ulcer Knowledge Test. The sample included all RN (158) that provided patient care and 250 NA/NT from a population of 450 elements, selected by probability sampling methods. From the 386 participants, 64.8% were NA/NT and 35.2% RNs. The mean percentage of correct answers on the Pieper’s Knowledge Test was 79.4% (SD 8.3) for RNs and 73.6% (SD 9.8) for nursing NA/NT. Among all participants, 92 (23.9%) got less than 70% of correct answers. The percentage of correct answers among AN/AT decreased with time since graduation and time of experience in nursing (p<0.05). Registered nurses with a specialty degree scored higher as also RNs with a MSN and RNs who participated in research during undergraduate program or who subscribed and read scientific publications (p<0.05). All participants who took part in scientific events, committees or study groups, in educational activities at the institution or used library and internet to seek scientific information had higher scores (p<0.05). The results were similar to studies done nationally and internationally and may help to guide the planning of dissemination strategies as also the adoption of prevention measures considered innovative in the context studied.
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