Elderly Caregivers' Knowledge and Practice toward Pressure Ulcers at Sohag Governorate Hospitals.

: Background: Pressure ulcers are more common among elderly. A major public health concern, pressure ulcers can cause psychological and physical problems that have an impact on morbidity and death. Aim: To assess elderly caregivers' knowledge and practice toward pressure ulcers at Sohag governorate hospitals. Design: Descriptive research design. Setting: Sohag Governorate Hospitals: From the Eastern direction: Sohag University hospital and Akhmim central hospital, while from the Western direction: Sohag General Hospital and Sohag Teaching hospital. Sample: Random sample was used to select two hospitals from each direction, then appropriate convenient sample used to select the elderly patients during six months. Tools: Tool (1): Structured interview questionnaire: it includes two parts: Part I: Demographic data and medical history of elderly. Part II: Demographic data of elderly caregivers. Tool (2): Elderly caregivers’ knowledge about pressure ulcer structured questionnaire. Tool (3): Elderly caregivers’ practice about pressure ulcer observational checklist. Results: 71.0% of the studied elderly caregivers in the current study had unsatisfactory knowledge level toward pressure ulcers, while 29.0% of them had satisfactory knowledge level. Additionally, 77.5% of studied elderly caregivers had inadequate practice, while 22.5% of them had adequate practice. Conclusion: Elderly caregivers had unsatisfactory level of knowledge and inadequate practice level toward pressure ulcers. Also, there was positive correlation and highly significant difference between the studied elderly caregivers’ knowledge and practice toward pressure ulcer. Recommendation: Establishing training and educational program about pressure ulcer for elderly caregivers.