Efficacy of a skin tear education program: improving the knowledge of nurses practicing in acute care settings.

Purpose: We sought to evaluate the knowledge base of acute care registered nurses (RNs) regarding skin tears and the efficacy of an online educational program designed to improve their knowledge of skin tears including (1) predisposing factors; (2) identification and assessment of skin tears using the Payne-Martin Classification System; and (3) preventive care, treatment, and documentation.

Design: This was a prospective quasi-experimental education intervention study.

Participants And Setting: Four hundred sixteen acute care RNs from 2 affiliated hospitals participated in the study. They comprised approximately 20% of more than 2,000 nurses employed by Atlantic Health. These nurses worked in critical care, medical-surgical, and specialty units and varied in age, level of education, work experience, and years in nursing.

Methods: A Web-based educational program was provided for over 4 months on our intranet service, which was available to all RN staff 24-hours-a-day, 7-days-a-week. The educational program was subdivided into 3 sections: (1) identification and assessment, (2) classification and differentiation, and (3) treatment.

Results: Nurses' knowledge of skin tears improved following the Web-based educational program. Following completion of the identification and assessment of skin tears section, participants were better able to identify and correctly assess skin tears (mean scores 99.1% vs 97.1%, P < .001). Participants also achieved greater knowledge of the differentiation between categories I, II, and III skin tears (mean scores 94.9% vs 83.4%, P < .001) and knowledge of treatment (mean score 93.7% vs 73.8%, P < .001).

Conclusion: Our Web-based skin tear educational program was effective in improving nurses' knowledge regarding skin tear identification and assessment, classification and differentiation, and treatment.