Knowledge and practice of universal precautions among nursing staff at a tertiary care hospital in South Gujarat, India

Abstract

Background: Health care providers are at an increased risk of exposure to various infections like HIV, Hepatitis B, Hepatitis C etc. These infections are prevented if proper universal precautions are observed by health care providers consistently in their day to day clinical work. In study we have explored knowledge and practice of universal precautions among nursing staff. Methods: A cross sectional study carried out among staff nurses in December 2013. Self-administered semi structured proforma was used for data collection. Information regarding knowledge and practice of universal precautions was collected. Results: Out of 88 participants interviewed, almost all of them reported of having awareness about universal precautions and personal protective equipments. Only 44.3% nurses mentioned all the correct measures for universal precautions. 89.77% nurses were aware about health hazards of needle stick injury but only 67.05% correctly reported about how needle stick injury can be prevented. 38.64% nurses had experienced needle stick injury while working and most of them (79.41%) followed proper guidelines. Conclusions: correct knowledge regarding universal precautions among nursing staff is still not of satisfactory level and training at repeated interval needs to be given to ensure correct knowledge as well as implementation of universal precautions.

Personal hygiene and taking into account the preventive measures and safety among healthcare providers

“…The present study found that, less than only one quarter of nurses and physicians were using the personal protective barrier during contact with infectious patient or blood with non statistical significant differences were found. This result was inconsistent with finding obtained from (Solanky et al 2016& Abu Salam et al2017) studies who found that, about one hundred percent of HCPs used personal protective measures such as gloves, gown, cap and face masks in day to day practice during dealing with blood or body fluids of the patients. As regard to the use needles-cutter or specific container for proper discarding of the used syringes and other sharp equipment, the study revealed that about two-thirds of the nurses and doctors dispose the sharp items and used syringes into puncture-proof container at point of use with statistical significant difference was found between the two groups, this finding was inconsistent with (Peethala and Garapati, 2017) who reported that proper disposal of used sharps items and needles were not in practices of most participants.…”

“…This finding coincides with Amoran & Onwube, (2013) who mentioned that unavailability of infection control equipment consider the major factor for non-adherence with UPs among HCPs. Solanky et al (2016) and Afolaranmi et al(2017) stated that proper and mandatory training must be regularly provided to HCPs to develop and refresh their knowledge about SPs. Training should includes hand washing, use of various protective barriers, prevention and managing of needles prick injury and proper handling of hazards waste.…”

Awareness on standard precautions among auxiliary nurse midwives in a subdivision of Purba Bardhaman district, West Bengal

“…Only 44.3% nurses mentioned all the correct measures for universal precautions. 9 Auxiliary nurse midwives (ANMs) are the main service providers at the sub-centre level. Sub-centres are the peripheral most formal health care delivery facilities and first formal contact point of the health system with the community.…”

Assessment of the knowledge and practices regarding standard precaution among nursing staff at a tertiary care hospital of Raipur city, Chhattisgarh

“…These infections are prevented if proper standard precautions which encompasses a wide range of steps are observed by health care providers consistently in their day to day clinical work to reduce the risk of exposure to blood and body fluids to protect self, patients and co-workers from infections. [4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14] In order to protect from the infections there are four important practices recommended in standard precaution are hand washing, use of protective barriers to prevent direct contact, safe handling and disposal of sharps and safe decontamination of instruments and other contaminated instruments. 6 Studies done previously reported that nurses are the commonest health care providers who are being exposed to infection.…”

“…[4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14] In order to protect from the infections there are four important practices recommended in standard precaution are hand washing, use of protective barriers to prevent direct contact, safe handling and disposal of sharps and safe decontamination of instruments and other contaminated instruments. 6 Studies done previously reported that nurses are the commonest health care providers who are being exposed to infection. 8,11 Therefore, the present study was undertaken with the objectives, to assess the knowledge and practices of nursing staff regarding standard precautions.…”