Attitudes and Commitment of Healthcare Workers toward Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA) Infections in Hospitals of Thi-Qar Governorate

Abstract

The nosocomial infection Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) can infect both healthcare workers and patients and have an impact on the standard of treatment offered in hospitals.  The study aims to Identify the relations between the attitudes, and commitment of healthcare workers to prevent methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) and sociodemographic characteristics. A descriptive cross-sectional study was carried out for 362 healthcare workers randomly chosen from four hospitals and distributed as follows: 125 from Nasiriyah Teaching Hospital, 80 from Al-Hussein Teaching Hospital, 80 from Al-Haboubi Teaching Hospital and 77 from Souk Al-Shuyoukh General Hospital Between October 1, 2022, to  May 1, 2023, and data was collected using a self-report paper-based questionnaire. Our findings indicated that 75.1% of the participants have neutral attitudes concerning MRSA infection. The relationships between attitudes and age, education, marital status, job title, and years of service were statistically significant (P <0.05). Healthcare workers' commitment were generally moderated. The participant's commitment to MRSA infection prevention was significantly correlated (P <0.05) with their age, education level, job title, and shift time. So we can conclude that Healthcare workers' attitudes toward the prevention of MRSA infection were neutral while Healthcare workers' commitment to preventing MRSA infection was poor. The study recommended Providing appropriate health facilities and personal protective equipment, Searching for the reasons behind non-compliance of HCWs, and Continual surveillance by medical institution authorities to protect healthcare workers against MRSA infection.