A survey of NHS nurses' delivery of treatments to prevent recurrence of venous leg ulcers

Preventing recurrence of venous leg ulcers can be achieved through strongest tolerated compression and endo-venous ablation surgery, but it is not clear how often this is done in practice. This study explores (1) nurses' awareness of strongest tolerated compression and endo-venous ablation surgery as prophylactic treatments for venous leg ulcer, (2) how often these treatments are offered, and (3) assessment of the barriers and enablers to deploying those treatments using the capabilities, opportunities and motivations model of behaviour change. An online cross-sectional survey was conducted among nurses who treat and manage venous leg ulcers across the United Kingdom. Data were analysed descriptively using within-participants ANOVA, within-participants MANOVA and multiple linear regression. We received 96 questionnaire responses. All the respondents reported that they were aware of strongest compression to prevent recurrence while 87.5% reported they were aware of endo-venous ablation surgery for recurrence prevention. Nurses' capabilities, opportunities, and motivations to offer the strongest tolerated compression were significantly greater when offering the strongest compression compared with referring to vascular surgery. Both preventative treatments were associated with marked deficits in opportunities (social and physical) and automatic motivation. Interventions targeted at increasing nurses' opportunities and boosting their motivation are needed to support the delivery of both preventive treatments. Further research is required to gain in-depth understanding of those barriers and enablers to identify candidate behaviour change techniques.