KNOWLEDGE, ATTITUDE, AND PRACTICE OF STANDARD PRECAUTIONS AND INFECTION CONTROL AMONG NURSES IN THE UNIVERSITY OF BENIN TEACHING HOSPITAL

Abstract

Standard precautions, applicable to all patients with suspected or confirmed infections, safeguard both healthcare personnel and patients. The study aims to assess the knowledge, attitude, and practice of standard precautions and infection control among nurses in the University of Benin Teaching Hospital (UBTH). The study adopted a cross-sectional research design. Random sampling was used to select a sample of 172 respondents for the study. The instrument used for this study was a self-structured questionnaire. Data analysis was done using SPSS. Findings from the study show that awareness was generally high for several key practices, such as the use of alcohol-based hand rubs when hands are visibly clean and not contaminated (155, 90.6%), proper disposal of sharps in a sharp-proof box (154, 90.1%), routine environmental cleaning as part of standard precautions (141, 82.5%), disinfection of the patient environment (145, 84.8%), and incorporating transmission-based precautions when a patient is known or suspected to have an infectious disease (146, 85.4%). A majority of respondents (56.1%) reported that they consistently follow standard precautions for every patient, regardless of diagnosis. Regarding the use of appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE) during patient interactions with exposure risk, 24.0% of respondents reported always using PPE, whereas 28.7% only sometimes do so. When it comes to disinfecting or sterilizing reusable equipment between uses, 23.4% always perform this task. It is recommended that nurses should strengthen their day-to-day application of standard precautions by consistently treating every patient interaction as a potential exposure opportunity.