Knowledge and Practice of Nursing Staff towards Infection Control Measures in the Palestinian Hospitals

Abstract

Health care professionals are constantly exposed to microorganisms. Many of which can cause serious or even lethal infections. Nurses in particular are often exposed to various infections during the course of carrying out their nursing activities. Therefore nurses should have sound knowledge and strict adherence to infection control practice. Aim of the study: The study aimed to assess the level of knowledge and practice of infection control among nurses in governmental hospitals of Palestine Methods: A  cross sectional study was conducted between November, 2014 and January, 2015 in governmental hospitals found in North West bank districts. Data were collected using pre tested questionnaire on 271 nurses selected by  purposive sample. Collected data were checked, coded and transferred to SPSS version 20 for analysis. Frequency, Mean and other statistics were calculated. P-value less than 0.05 were set as statistically significant. Results: the current study revealed that, approximately half (53.9%) of the studied sample had fair knowledge level (>80%). However, the majority (91.1%) of the studied sample had Good practice (>80%). No significant statistical differences were found between mean knowledge scores towards age, years of experience, and training course (f=2.263, 1.607, 0.210) respectively at p < 0.05(0.082, 0.188, 0.647) respectively. Significant statistical differences were found  between mean knowledge scores towards gender and qualification (F = 4.205, 4.531) respectively at p < 0.05 (0.041, 0.012 ) respectively. No significant statistical differences were found between mean practice scores towards age, years of experience, training course, and qualification(f=1.482, 2.625, 0.129, 0.727 ) respectively at p < 0.05(0.220, 0.051, 0.720, 0.484) respectively. Significant statistical differences were found in mean practice scores only in relation to gender, (F = 8.569) at p < 0.05 (0.004). Conclusion: Based on findings of the current study, it can be concluded that inspite of having good practice level regarding infection control, nurses had fair knowledge level. Recommendations: Updating knowledge and practice of nurses through continuing in-service educational programs; emphasizing the importance of following latest evidence-based practices of infection control in continuing education / training program; providing training programs for newly nurses about infection control and at regular intervals; and a replication of this study using observation checklist should be done to assess the level of practice.

Keywords: Infection control, Knowledge, Practice, Nurse