Palliative care nurses' knowledge of the assessment and management of malignant fungating wounds: a scoping review

OBJECTIVE: The aim of the review was to develop a greater understanding of nurses' knowledge of wound assessment and management, paying particular attention to malignant fungating wounds (MFWs), and to identify and explore the evidence on these wounds and their treatment. METHOD: A scoping review was conducted to search for and select potential studies. A search was undertaken using CINAHL, PubMed, Cochrane, Scopus and Google Scholar. The scoping review was guided by the framework of Arskey and O'Malley. RESULTS: Following review, three studies met the inclusion criteria and were ultimately selected for data extraction. The four main themes developed from analysis included: prevalence of MFWs; impact on the individual/caregiver/nurse; symptom management in MFWs; and lack of knowledge and skills. CONCLUSION: The findings of this review highlighted that there is a clear lack of evidence, despite the plethora of published literature on general wound assessment and management, to adequately determine nurses' knowledge of the assessment and management of MFWs. This indicates that a greater focus needs to be placed on attaining knowledge if holistic care is to be provided. There is a need for specific knowledge in nursing, and so, greater attention is needed to improve nurses' knowledge in carrying out MFW assessment and management, and in developing and advancing nursing research practice in the field of palliative wound care.