Practice and Training Needs of Staff Nurses Caring for Patients with Intestinal Ostomies in Primary and Secondary Hospitals in China: A Cross-Sectional Survey.

PURPOSE:The purpose of this study was to describe staff nurses' intestinal ostomy care practice in primary and secondary hospitals in China and their ostomy-related training needs.SUBJECTS AND SETTING:The target population for this study was first-line staff nurses working in general surgical departments in primary and secondary care hospitals in Luzhou, located in Sichuan Province, Southwest China. Hospitals in China are divided into 3 tiers; first tier facilities are usually located in townships and have fewer than 100 inpatients beds; secondary hospitals are usually found in medium-sized cities or districts and have between 100 and 500 inpatient beds.DESIGN:Descriptive, cross-sectional.METHODS:Participants were recruited through a stratified cluster sampling method based on hospital tier and the presence of general surgical department. Data were collected via a questionnaire that comprised 3 sections; the first section queried demographic and professional practice data, the second queried practice related to patients with intestinal ostomies, and the third queried nurses' stoma-related training needs. Links to the electronic survey were distributed through e-mail.RESULTS:Three hundred and eighteen nurses were invited to participate in the survey, and 280 questionnaires were returned, yielding a response rate of 88.05%. Review of data found that 214 questionnaires were sufficiently complete to be used in our data analysis. The mean intestinal ostomy practice score was 26.61 ± 7.98, indicating less than optimal engagement in ostomy care. Lack of manpower in the workplace and heavy workload of daily nursing were identified as leading barriers to continuing education in this area of practice.CONCLUSIONS:The ostomy-related practice of first-line staff nurses in Chinese primary and secondary hospitals showed less than optimal engagement in ostomy practice. We recommend creating additional ostomy-related continuing education targeted for nurses practicing in primary and secondary tier hospitals and removal of barriers to this education in order to improve ostomy care in primary and secondary tier hospitals in China.