Educating Home Health Nurses on Peristomal Skin Care

This 2015 Doctorate of Nursing Practice (DNP) project used a quasi-experimental, pre-test post-test design. This was conducted in a metropolitan area in one of the Rocky Mountain states. Purpose: The purpose of this quality improvement project is to improve the home health nurses’ knowledge regarding peristomal skin care through an in-service education provided by a Wound, Ostomy and Continence Nurse (WOCN). Goal: The goal is to improve the nurses’ knowledge on peristomal skin care, with the ultimate goal of positively impacting the care of the ostomy patients at home. Knowledge improvement was evaluated by administering an identical pre- and post-test on peristomal skin care. The ten-item test was written by Debra Netsch, DNP, RN, APRN, CNP, CWOCN and Bonnie Sue Rolstad, MS, RN, CWOCN. This test is part of a continuing education class available through webWOC and had previously been administered to nurses. Objectives: 1.) Provide a one-hour, evidence-based in-service to increase the home health nurses’ knowledge on peristomal skin care. 2) Administer a pre-test to demonstrate baseline knowledge of participant nurses regarding peristomal skin care. 3) Administer a post-test to demonstrate knowledge acquisition. Methods: The author’s university’s Internal Review Board approved the study. The author developed an in-service and a blog discussing the topic.  The author went to the different home health agencies to conduct the hour long in-service. Demographic forms were completed by the participants. A test was administered before and after the in-services. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyze the data gathered. Results: 86 home health nurses from a convenience sample participated in this project. A statistically significant improvement in mean knowledge scores was noted in the post-intervention assessment, suggesting that educational intervention was successful in increasing nurses’ knowledge on the topic. There was a significant difference in the pre- and post-test scores, pre-test (M=.5267, SD=.19062) and post-test (M=.7791, SD=.16458); t(85)=-9.521 p<.001. CI=–.30502 to –.19963.