Knowledge and Practice of Nurses About the Control and Prevention of Nosocomial Infections in Emergency Departments

Abstract

Background: Basic infection control measures in any nursing setup can reduce the rates of healthcare-associated infections. Reducing the risk of infection and using the prevention principles are in the realm of nursing. Objectives: The current study aimed to evaluate the level of knowledge and practices on infection control among the nursing staff. Patients and Methods:In this cross-sectional study 224 nurses were selected by random sampling from three teaching hospitals. A questionnaire was used to collect data. The questionnaire included three parts: demographic characteristic, level of knowledge, and practices among the nursing staff. Data were analyzed by SPSS software. Results: The result of the research showed that the majority of participants were female (53.6%), married (80.4%), had BS degree (89.3%) and had the working experience between 11 and 20 years (51.8%); 41.1% and 33.03% of the participants respectively had intermediate and high level of knowledge about infection control. Also the result showed that (75.8%) had intermediate level of performance in this field. There was a significant correlation between sex and performance of the participants (P = 0.014). Conclusions: According to the obtained results, the majority of nurses participating in the study had an intermediate level of knowledge and practice of infection control. There is a need to develop a system of continuous education for all the categories of nursing staff.

Assessment of knowledge and practices of healthcare workers towards infection prevention and associated factors in healthcare facilities of West Arsi District, Southeast Ethiopia: a facility-based cross-sectional study

“…Healthcare workers who have served for ten and more years were about three times more likely to appear knowledgeable about infection prevention than those with less than five years service. This finding is in line with other related studies from Ethiopia [ 43 , 44 , 50 ], Africa [ 59 ], Europe [ 60 ], and Asia [ 48 , 52 ], in which years of service year were positively associated with knowledge regarding infection prevention. The strong positive association from this study could be due to the fact that as the number of years of service increases, healthcare workers are repeatedly exposed to infection prevention principles and became more experienced and knowledgeable.…”

“…Reducing the risk of HAIs and using infection prevention principles are in the control of healthcare workers; therefore, healthcare workers must have correct, up-to-date and appropriate scientific information and practice accordingly [ 48 ]. Without adequate infection prevention and patient safety practices both healthcare workers and patients are at risk of acquiring serious infections such as HIV, HBV, HCV, and Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infection as well as other bacterial and viral infections [ 13 , 49 – 51 ].…”

Resource allocation: The main problem in infection control in intensive care units of hospitals

“…Several quantitative studies conducted in Iran and other countries have suggested that the knowledge of medical staff about nosocomial infections is at a low or medium level (20)(21)(22)(23)(24). Adequate knowledge regarding proper health care enables medical personnel to effectively prevent and identify infectious diseases and perform the required treatments (25,26).…”

Culture of quality in infection prevention of a hospital as perceived by health care workers

“…As cited by Geberemariyam, Donka, and Wordofa (), Kalantarzadeh, Mohammadnejad, Ehsani, and Tamizi () indicated that HCWs who have accurate, appropriate, and updated knowledge and practices about IPC are in control of reducing the risk of HAIs and essential for attaining high‐quality and safe health care. A literature review by Hessels and Larson () suggested that efforts to improving a high quality of patient safety climate can improve compliance with the core components of preventing HAIs and ensuring HCW safety.…”