The effectiveness of latex wound model on wound dressing skill of the nursing students

Abstract

Wound dressing is a skill which must be able to be performed by all nurses. If the practical ability of a nurse is weak, it will affect the quality of patient care. The objective of this research is to study the effectiveness of the latex wound model for wound dressing training on wound dressing skills of the nursing student. The latex wound model is a device used in practice which is made from rubber. The samples are the 60 second-year nursing students. Simple random sampling was applied in the selection of samples to be an experimental group and a control group for 30 persons per group. The latex wound model was provided to the experimental group for wound dressing skill training at the dormitory for a seven day period. A personal data questionnaire, wet dressing skill evaluation form, and dry dressing skill evaluation form were used for data collection. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, Wilcoxon Signed Ranks Test and Mann-Whitney U Test. The results indicated that: 1) the mean score of wet dressing skill and dry dressing skill after the intervention were significantly higher than before the intervention (p < .05); 2) the mean score of wet dressing skill and dry dressing skill of the experimental group were higher than that of the control group, who was given the explanation of research procedures and the use of latex wound model, at statistical significance (p < .05). The findings imply that the use of the latex wound model for wound dressing training could enhance the wound dressing practical skill of the nursing students.