Abstract
OBJECTIVE: To explore the knowledge, attitudes and practice (KAP) towards the postoperative nursing of patients with digit replantation and skin flap transplantation among new nurses. DESIGN: Cross-sectional survey. SETTING: Two tertiary medical centres in Beijing, China. PARTICIPANTS: New nurses with working experience within 2 years. PRIMARY AND SECONDARY OUTCOME MEASURES: The demographic characteristics of the nurses and their KAP towards the postoperative nursing of patients with digit replantation and skin flap transplantation were collected using a self-administered questionnaire. The primary outcome was the KAP scores towards the postoperative nursing of patients with digit replantation and skin flap transplantation. The secondary outcomes were the factors associated with the KAP scores and how the KAP dimensions interacted among them. RESULTS: A total of 206 valid questionnaires were collected. The mean KAP scores were 7.72±3.28 (total score 13; 59.3%), 37.95±6.05 (total score 50; 75.9%) and 38.23±6.12 (total score 45; 84.9%), indicating poor knowledge, moderately favourable attitudes and active practice. The structural equation model analysis showed that knowledge directly influences attitudes (β=0.82, 95%CI 0.60 to 1.05, p<0.001) and that attitudes directly influence practices (β=0.72, 95%CI 0.62 to 0.83, p<0.001). Knowledge had no direct influence on practices (β=0.10, 95%CI -0.09 to 0.29, p=0.313), but the indirect influence was significant (β=0.60, 95%CI 0.41 to 0.78, p<0.001). CONCLUSION: The lack of sufficient knowledge towards the postoperative nursing of patients with digit replantation and skin flap transplantation among nurses with <2 years of experience and the correlation among the KAP dimensions suggested the importance of proper training.