Standard Precautions among HealthCare Workers in a Tertiary Health Facility in Enugu Metropolis, South-East Nigeria

Abstract

BackgroundThe work environment of Health Care Workers (HCWs) can be described as a potential risk zone due to numerous hazards endemic to the environment. The hospital is not just only a place where the sick people recover from their illness, but also where the healthy get infected.ObjectivesTo assess the knowledge, attitude and practice of Standard Precautions (SP) among HCWs in a tertiary government health facility in Enugu Metropolis, Nigeria.MethodsA descriptive cross-sectional design that used mixed method approach. Qualitative data was collected using an in-depth interview. The quantitative data instrument was a semi-structured, self-administered questionnaire. Manual content analysis was done for the qualitative data. Quantitative data was analysed using SPSS version 22.ResultsSixty-four (32.0%), 131(65.5%) and 5(2.5%) had good, fair and poor knowledge of SP respectively while 117(58.5%), 70(35.0%) and 13(6.5%) had good, fair and poor attitude to SP respectively. Fifty-nine (29.5%), 140(70.0%) and 1(0.5%) had good, fair and poor practice of SP respectively.ConclusionThere was fair knowledge and practice of SP among the studied HCWs while attitude was good.Rwanda J Med Health Sci 2021;4(3):366-378