The Practice of Universal Precautions against Body Fluid Borne Infection among Radiology Staff in Some Teaching Hospital in Northern Nigeria

Abstract

Title: The Practice of Universal Precautions against Body Fluid Borne Infections among Radiology Staff in Some Teaching Hospital in Northern Nigeria.

Objectives; The aim of this study was to evaluate the knowledge and practice of universal precaution against fluid borne infections among radiology staff in northern Nigeria teaching hospitals to elicit responses to questions regarding their knowledge and practice of universal precaution.

Methods: A prospective cross sectional study using structured questionnaire was conducted among radiology staff practicing in teaching hospitals in northern Nigeria. The questionnaire was sent out by post and the response rate over a period of two months period was 52.5%, (n=63).  Descriptive statistics such as mean, frequency and percentages were generated using statistical package for social sciences (spss) version 14.0.

Result; Results show that 95.3%, (60) of the radiology staff come in contact with body fluid in their work while 87.3%, (55) have good knowledge of universal precaution. There were 72.7%, (46) of the studied staff who practice universal precaution. Only 41.3%, (26) of the staff use the incident reporting system when exposed to patients body fluid. It also found managements laxity in providing all necessary personal protective equipment such as gloves, mask, goggles, and aprons.

Conclusion: This study found radiology staff of teaching hospitals in northern Nigeria have satisfactory knowledge of universal precaution which is not matched by practice.

Keywords:Universal Precautions, Fluid-borne Infection, practice, Radiology, Knowledge