Knowledge, Attitude and Practice of nursing students on Hospital Acquired Infections in Western region of Nepal

Abstract

Background & Objectives: Hospital-acquired infections (HAIs) are a common problem and challenge faced by hospitals in all countries around the world. Nurses are an important part of the healthcare team that plays a unique role in the control of HAIs. Compliance on the part of healthcare workers (HCWs) including nurses with standard precautions has been recognized as being an efficient means to prevent and control HAIs. The present study was conducted with objective of understanding the level of Knowledge, attitude and practice (KAP) regarding HAIs among nursing students in the Western Region of Nepal. Materials & Methods: This descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted among nursing students posted in different wards of two hospitals of Pokhara. A self administered questionnaire containing different set of questions regarding knowledge, attitude and practice on HAI were used for data collection. Results: Among the total participants in the study 97% of the participants considered that prevention of HAIs were a valuable part of nurses' role but only 89% had received formal training regarding hand hygiene. The results show that 74% of the participants had good knowledge regarding HAIs. 82% of the participants felt that they would be less likely to transmit infection to the patient if they performed handhygiene. 66% of them identified that hand hygiene agents were not readily available in current settings. Regarding practice, only 6% performed hand hygiene before patient contact. Conclusion: The nursing students had good knowledge regarding HAIs that was reflected in their attitude and practice on hand hygiene for the prevention of HAIs. However there is the need of regular training and performance feedback regarding hand hygiene and the hospital environment should be handhygiene friendly with easily accessible to sinks and other facilities.

A systematic review on hand hygiene knowledge and compliance in student nurses

“…A similar result was also noted in a recent study involving Nepalese students (Paudel et al. ). Utilizing the Hand Hygiene Knowledge Questionnaire for Health Care Workers (HHKQHCW) by the WHO, the majority or 84% of the nursing students had scored lower than 75% of the total score.…”

“…; Paudel et al. ). Other studies explored predictive factors of HH compliance (Cruz & Bashtawi ; Foote & El‐Masri ; Hernández‐García & Cardoso ).…”

“…; Paudel et al. ; Thakker & Jadhav ), one in Africa (Kristofina & Peneyayambeko ) and one in North America (Foote & El‐Masri ).…”

Isolation of Multidrug Resistant Bacteria from Patients Medical Charts

“…The main reasons for this may be lack of infrastructures, lack of trained manpower and lack of awareness about the importance of hand hygiene. 18 Further, local hand hygiene compliance data are not available. So, in this scenario this study will be a wakeup call for the responsible authorities to implement the hand hygiene programs in hospitals of Nepal.…”

Hand Hygiene Knowledge and Practice Among Medical Students in King Abdulaziz University Hospital.

“…A study in Nepal described that the lack of role models for infection control and formal training of HH could be considered as possible barriers to apply correct HH measures 25 . Accordingly, throughout our study, it was found that students' practice of HH was affected by the performance of their role models which was comparable to the findings of Hamadah et al in which they stated that students lack proper HH practice in the absence of living examples (physicians, residents) 6 .…”