Postgraduate Education and Working Life

Nurses need versatile knowledge about patients and wound care to implement evidence-based nursing care. Based on previous research, they have gaps in knowledge and skills in various areas of wound care, for example, recognition and evaluation of wounds and documentation. At the organisational level, there is only a limited possibility to gain information about wound care for planning postgraduate education. For this reason, wound care competence mapping was developed. Based on the results of yearly wound care competence mapping and other information sources (e.g. pressure ulcer risk and nutritional status assessment reports), it is possible to allocate education, which is implemented yearly. The impact of education is assessed through wound care competence mapping, content analysis of nursing records, patient safety reports, pressure ulcer risk results and nutritional status assessment reports. Nurses’ competence improvement has been recognised annually; for example, wounds are recognised earlier, improving wound healing and reducing patient suffering.