Date of Conferral

8-17-2026

Date of Award

August 2026

Degree

Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP)

School

Nursing

Advisor

Letha Thomas

Abstract

Staff education in this project was focused on improving nursing staff’s knowledge on pressure injury prevention, inspired by the persistent care quality gap. The gap in practice as of 2024 related to hospital-acquired pressure injury (HAPI) at the host health organization was reported to be approximately 0.2 per 1,000 discharges. It was apparent that education could benefit the nursing staff to improve their knowledge in pressure injury prevention. The education in service focused on continuous nursing skin assessments, to ensure over prolonged hospitalization, patients’ skin does not deteriorate with the development of pressure injuries or advancing of pre-existing pressure ulcers. The host organization, like many healthcare organizations nationally, continue to experience pressure injuries among acutely ill patients. Prevalence within hospitals in the United States of America ranges from 5%-15% with intensive care units reaching over 30% and costing on average up to $11 billion every year to care for patients that develop pressure injuries across the nation. Descriptive statistics were used during this project where evidence-based practice was formulated into nursing education for quality improvement. The goal was to use the same 10 pre and post questions appropriately to check for increased knowledge once nurses and nursing assistants received evidence-based practice education. Descriptive statistics provided tangible evidence for increasing nursing competency through educational support on pressure injury (Petkovic et al., 2023). Evaluation of the project’s completed surveys showed that learning occurred and increased nursing staff knowledge on pressure injury prevention within the range of 10-20% per participant. This highlighted the need for continued nursing training, support and staff engagement to strengthen an organizational culture that prioritizes patient safety. Improved nursing knowledge on pressure injury prevention will lead to better prevention practices and patient outcomes in the acute care setting.

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