Conference abstract

Adherence to preventive practices against nosocomial infections among health workers in two selected tertiary hospitals in Ogun State, Nigeria

Pan African Medical Journal - Conference Proceedings. 2022:12(12).17 Feb 2022.
doi: 10.11604/pamj-cp.2022.12.12.1230
Archived on: 17 Feb 2022
Contact the corresponding author
Keywords: Adherence, health workers, nosocomial infection, preventive practice
Oral presentation

Adherence to preventive practices against nosocomial infections among health workers in two selected tertiary hospitals in Ogun State, Nigeria

Anise Ifeoluwa Boluwatife1,&, Maitanmi Julius Olatade1, Akingbade Oluwadamilare2,3

1Department of Community Health Nursing, School of Nursing, Babcock University, Nigeria, 2The Nethersole School of Nursing, Chinese University of Hong Kong, China, 3Institute of Nursing Research, Osogbo, Osun State, Nigeria

&Corresponding author

Introduction: nosocomial infections are major public health problem globally. In Nigeria, every year, many lives are lost because of the increase in transmission of nosocomial infections in hospitals. This study assessed the level of knowledge, level of adherence to preventive practices against nosocomial infection and the factors affecting the adherence to preventive practices against nosocomial infection among health workers in two selected tertiary hospitals in Ogun State.

Methods: the study adopted a cross-sectional research design and multistage sampling technique was used to recruit the respondents. A self-structured questionnaire was validated and adopted for data collection. Data retrieved were analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics, with the use of Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 21.

Results: the findings from the study revealed that 94.1% of the health workers had high knowledge about nosocomial infection, and 92.6% had high level of adherence to preventive practices against nosocomial infection. Factors affecting adherence to preventive practices were workload, lack of equipment and distance to preventive equipment.

Conclusion/Implication to Nursing Practice: as this study found a high knowledge on nosocomial infection and adherence to preventive practices among health workers; experienced health workers can serve as mentors to nursing students and students of other health professions on preventive practices against nosocomial infections. Similarly, the study recommended among other things that standard precaution training, regular provision of personal protective equipment, removal of workload barriers and access to preventive equipment can help ensure continuous adherence to preventive practices against nosocomial infections among health workers.