Knowledge gaps in pressure injury, medical device–related pressure injury, and skin tear among intensive care unit nurses

Intensive care unit (ICU) patients are at high risk for pressure injuries (PIs), medical device-related pressure injuries (MDRPIs), and skin tears (STs). Although nurses play a key role in preventing all three conditions, existing research has mainly focused on PIs, with limited evidence addressing nurses’ combined knowledge related to MDRPIs and STs. In particular, shared deficiencies across these conditions remain unclear. This study aimed to assess ICU nurses’ knowledge of PIs, MDRPIs, and STs together to identify overlapping knowledge gaps that may affect skin integrity management in ICU settings. A cross-sectional online survey was conducted with 283 ICU nurses. Data were collected using three validated tools: the Pressure Ulcer Knowledge Assessment Tool 2.0 (PUKAT 2.0), the Medical Device–Related Pressure Injury Knowledge Assessment Tool (MDRPI-KAT), and the Skin Tear Knowledge Assessment Instrument (OASES), enabling construct-specific measurement across related conditions. Knowledge levels varied across domains, with mean total scores of 14.44 ± 3.43 (PUKAT 2.0), 8.73 ± 1.83 (MDRPI-KAT), and 10.17 ± 2.44 (OASES). Across all three tools, prevention consistently emerged as the lowest-scoring domain. Higher knowledge scores were observed among nurses with greater professional experience, postgraduate education, and prior care experience related to STs. The findings provide a comprehensive overview of ICU nurses’ knowledge regarding PIs, MDRPIs, and STs, highlighting variability across domains and consistently lower scores in prevention-related areas. These results underscore the need for targeted educational strategies to strengthen knowledge across key aspects of skin integrity management in intensive care settings. However, findings should be interpreted with caution due to potential sampling bias related to social media-based recruitment and the absence of multivariable analysis. Not applicable.