Abstract PS2-13-11: Enhancing Nurse Competence in Malignant Wound Management: A Multicenter Assessment of Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices in Integrated Care Settings

Abstract Background: Malignant wounds present as ulcerative, cauliflower-like, volcano-like, and sinus tract-like lesions. Patients suffer not only from life-threatening cancer but also distressing symptoms (exudation, odor, pain, and bleeding), which significantly impact their quality of life. As specialized wound nursing advances, nurses play an increasingly vital role in malignant wound management. This study evaluated nurses' knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP) in this field. Methods: The convenience sampling method was used to select nurses implementing the integrated medical care model in 42 Chinese medical centers. This study was approved by the Ethics Committee of Beijing Cancer Hospital (2022YJZ33). The general information questionnaire had 5 items: participant’s age, gender, work experience, education level, professional title, and wound care training status. Specialized wound care nurses were nurses with a certificate of completion in wound knowledge training. The Malignant Wound Management KAP Scale Questionnaire was self-designed and previously tested. Data analysis used SPSS 25.0. Inferential statistics employed the independent samples t-test and one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) to compare scores. Multiple linear regression analysis was used to identify influencing factors. Results: From August 12, 2022 to June 27, 2024, 1002 nurses provided valid responses to the survey. The participants had a median age of 34 (21-56) years, and 86% had a bachelor’s degree. Nurses were divided into 4 groups based on training status, including non-wound (Group 1, 55.5%) and wound (Group 2, 10%) specialist nurses without training in malignant wound management and non-wound (Group 3, 17.4%) and wound (Group 4, 17.1%) specialist nurses with training in malignant wound management. Totally 34.5% (346/1002) had training for malignant wound management. In KAP score analysis, the participants showed a moderate level of knowledge, with a mean score of 15.24 ± 2.51 (72.6% of the maximum score) and had favorable attitudes, with a mean score of 59.02 ± 6.61 (90.8% of the maximum score). However, practical competency remained relatively low, with a mean practice score of 72.10 ± 19.58 (62.7% of the maximum score). Univariate analysis of KAP in malignant wound management showed age, years of experience, education level, professional title, and wound-related training significantly affected knowledge score (P<0.05); age, years of experience, professional title, and wound-related training significantly affected attitude score (P<0.001), while years of experience, city classification, and wound-related training significantly impacted practice score (P<0.01). Multiple linear regression analysis further revealed wound-related training as a factor affecting KAP (P<0.05). Professional title emerged as another key determinant of knowledge score, whereas years of experience and city classification significantly impacted practice score. Nurses with >10 years of experience had significantly higher scores (P=0.014), while those in second- and third-tier cities had lower scores (P=0.013 and P=0.003, respectively). Conclusion: While nurses had positive attitudes toward malignant wound management and adequate knowledge, their clinical practice required improvement. Training emerged as a critical factor affecting KAP but is rarely undertaken in China, with existing professional wound care training programs often lacking dedicated contents for malignant wound management. These findings highlight the critical roles of specialized training and professional experience in improving KAP outcomes in malignant wound care: training initiatives for junior nurses are required, as well as collaboration between primary and tertiary hospitals. Citation Format: L. Xu, J. Tian, M. Zhu, H. Chen, H. Li, M. You. Enhancing Nurse Competence in Malignant Wound Management: A Multicenter Assessment of Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices in Integrated Care Settings [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium 2025; 2025 Dec 9-12; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Clin Cancer Res 2026;32(4 Suppl):Abstract nr PS2-13-11.