What prompts nurses to seek help from wound care consultants in spinal cord injury management?

Abstract

Objective: This study aimed to identify clinical scenarios that might prompt nurses to seek advice from a spinal cord injury wound care nurse consultant for pressure injury management. In addition, some attributes of nurses were examined for associations with intention to seek the help of a consultant.

Design: Exploratory quantitative survey.

Setting: Queensland, Australia.

Subjects: Fifty currently practising hospital and community based nurses.

Main outcome measure(s): Two part online survey - part one presented hypothetical clinical case scenarios, in which respondents indicated their likelihood of seeking help; and, part two examined participant attributes and work experience.

Results: Each scenario presented was rated as either of little importance or utmost importance by at least one respondent. Participants identified consultant personality and proximity as more influential on help seeking than timeliness, common sense or knowledge.

Conclusion: The study did not identify a pattern of association between the presence of certain clinical factors and intention to seek help from a spinal cord injury consultant nurse for pressure injury management. What is important and influential for one person may be of less importance for others. Consultants must market their value to nurses in order that they are front of mind during the help seeking process. Further studies are required to examine the decision making process associated with help seeking.