Compliance to standard precautions among nurses working in Qassim hospitals in KSA

Background: Compliance with standard precautions has been shown to reduce the risk of exposure to blood and body fluids. Nurses represent the largest percentage of the health care workers hence; their compliance with standard precautions guidelines seems to be more crucial in preventing the disease transmission among patients. Aim: this study aims to evaluate compliance to standard precautions among nurses working in Qassim Hospitals in KSA. Methodology: A cross sectional study was conducted in 4 multispecialty hospitals of Al-Qassim region, KSA. A purposive sampling approach was adopted whereas sample consisted of 284 male and female nurses working in multispecialty hospitals. Data collected through self-administrative questionnaire which consists of; personal and work characteristics of nurses, nurses’ knowledge and compliance of standard precautions. Results: Nearly half of nurses had poor knowledge regarding standard precautions and the majority of nurses had better compliance to standard precautions. However nearly one third of nurses had good compliance to waste disposal. Conclusions: Compulsive training courses found to be vital for developing awareness among nurses, improving compliance to standard precautions and good clinical practice. Recommendations: Further studies are recommended by using different methods for data collection. Written universal precautions guidelines for infection control should be available.