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Hindi Research Article
Knowledge, Awareness and Compliance with Standard Precautions among Health Workers in North Eastearn Nigeria
Abdulraheem IS1*, Amodu MO2, Saka MJ1, Bolarinwa OA1 and Uthman MMB1
1Department of Epidemiology & Community Health, College of Medicine, University of Ilorin, Nigeria
2Department of Community Medicine, College of Medical Sciences, University of Maiduguri, Nigeria
- Corresponding Author:
- Dr. Abdulraheem IS
Department of Epidemiology & Community Health
College of Medicine, University of Ilorin, Nigeria
Tel: +234-80-33571854
Fax: +234-31-223176
E-mail: ibroraheem@yahoo.com
Received Date: March 07, 2012; Accepted Date: March 20, 2012; Published Date: March 22, 2012
Citation: Abdulraheem IS, Amodu MO, Saka MJ, Bolarinwa OA, Uthman MMB (2012) Knowledge, Awareness and Compliance with Standard Precautions among Health Workers in North Eastearn Nigeria. J Community Med Health Edu 2:131. doi: 10.4172/jcmhe.1000131
Copyright: © 2012 Abdulraheem IS, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Abstract
Background: Health care workers (HCWs) are at risk of various occupational hazards in the hospital, including exposure to blood borne infections such as Human Immuno -deficiency Virus (HIV) and hepatitis B and C virus (HBV and HCV) infection from sharps injuries and contact with body fluids. Compliance on the part of Healthcare workers (HCWs) with standard precautions has been recognized as being an efficient means to prevent and control healthcare- associated infections.
Objective: To assess knowledge, awareness and compliance of universal precautions among health workers in north eastern Nigeria.
Method: This is a crossectional study conducted between March and August 2010. A 32- item self-administered questionnaire and observational checklist were used to obtain information from the health workers. Data was analyzed using SPSS version 17 and the level of significant was at p-value of < 0.05
Results: Less than one-fifth (13%) of the respondents have adequate knowledge of uni versal precautions with females (67.8%) better than the males (32.2%) (p< 0.05). Nurses (85.7%), midwifes (80.2%) and community health officers (69.8%) were very knowledgeable of universal precautions compared with other studied health workers. Those with ten years and above working experience had a high level of awareness of universal precautions than those with below five years (p< 0.05). Compliance with the use of sterile gloves, handling and disposal of needles and other sharp objects was higher than the knowledge of these procedures recorded (p < 0.05) especially among those with experience of ten years and above.
