Changes in the Knowledge, Practice, and Confidence Levels of Nurses Following a Wound Care Training Program at Three Hospitals in Vietnam

Wound care is a specialized field of nursing that requires specific technical skills and clinical competencies. Inadequate training may lead to suboptimal wound management and compromised patient outcomes. This study aimed to evaluate changes in nurses' knowledge, practice, and confidence following a wound care training program across three hospitals in Northern Vietnam.

A quasi-experimental one-group pretest–posttest study was conducted from June 1, 2022, to December 31, 2023, at Ha Dong General Hospital, Hanoi Obstetrics and Gynecology Hospital, and Bac Ninh Obstetrics and Pediatrics Hospital. A total of 159 nurses participated. All participants completed pre-training assessments of wound care knowledge, practice, and confidence, attended a continuous wound care training program, and subsequently completed post-training assessments of the same three domains at 12 months after program completion. Data were analyzed using Microsoft Excel 2010 and SPSS version 27.0, with statistical significance set at p < 0.05.

The mean post-training knowledge score (108.54 ± 13.18) was significantly higher than the pre-training score (88.10 ± 14.94; p < 0.001; Cohen’s d = 1.45). Practice scores improved significantly in key domains, including patient assessment, wound assessment, care planning, and documentation (p < 0.001). Statistically significant changes were observed in the use of advanced wound dressings, particularly Lipido-Colloid with silver, Polyacrylate, Lipido-Colloid, and alginates (McNemar’s test, p < 0.001). Nurses' confidence levels showed statistically significant post-training changes in seven of 13 domains, including communication skills, wound assessment, decision-making, clean wound care, pressure injury care, health education, and evaluation (Wilcoxon Signed-Rank test, p < 0.05); confidence increased in decision-making and pressure injury care but shifted from “very high” to “high” in the other five domains.

The findings suggest that the structured wound care training program was associated with improvements in nurses' knowledge and clinical practice that persisted at 12 months after program completion, whereas self-reported confidence showed a redistribution rather than a uniform increase. The observed changes are consistent with the interpretation that targeted training may facilitate the adoption of advanced wound care practices and strengthen core nursing competencies in clinical settings.

The wound care training program was associated with significant improvements in nurses' knowledge and practice at 12 months post-training, while changes in self-reported confidence were mixed, with increases in some domains and fewer “very high” ratings in others. These results provide preliminary support for the integration of structured wound care training into continuing professional development programs for nurses to enhance the quality of wound management in clinical practice. Further controlled studies are needed to confirm these findings.