International Clinical and Medical Case Reports Journal (ISSN: 2832-5788) | Volume 1, Issue 3 | Research Article | Open Access
Sai Subhakar Desu*
Medical Officer, UNICEF, Paediatric and Adolescent Resource Center (PARC) phase – 2, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Mangalgiri, Andhra Pradesh, 522503, India
*Correspondence to: Sai Subhakar Desu
Fulltext PDFBackground: Of every 100 hospitalized patients at any given time, 7 in developed and 10 in developing countries will acquire at least one Hospital Acquired Infection.The risk is substantial not only for patients, but also for Health Care Workers (HCWs), including Doctors, medical students, nurses, and working staff.Healthcare workers acquire these infections during specimen collection, processing and discarding, handling medical equipment, needle prick injuries and by direct interactive sessions with the patients without taking any precautions and by poor awareness about HAI's.
Objective: To assess the Knowledge, and attitude of Health care workers towards Hospital Acquired Infections. To assess their practices regarding universal standard precautions, hand hygiene, respiratory hygiene, cough etiquette, and use of personal protective equipment.
Methods: The is a cross sectional study done on 161 Health care workers which includes medical students, interns, and postgraduates of the Sri Siddhartha Medical College and hospital, Tumkur, Karnataka, India, done in the span of 3 months (January to March 2022). Pretested semi structured questionnaireswere given to the participants and were selected using convenient sampling techniques. The data was analysed using SPSS version 21 software.
Results: Only, more than one fourth (46, 28.5%) of the participants are having >50% knowledge on HAIs. Almost three-fourth (120, 74.5%) of the participants are having a positive attitude towards HAIs, (44, 27.3%) of the participants are trying to reduce the risk of these infections with their good practices.Conclusion: Postgraduates are having more knowledge and following less practices about HAIs. Medical students have less knowledge, more positive attitude about HAIs. Interns are having a positive attitude with good practices towards HAIs. We recommend Health Care Workers to follow Strict aseptic precautions, limiting use of external devices, removal of catheters as soon as no longer indicated, public health surveillance, Antibiotic stewardship and follow patient safety.
Hospital Acquired Infections (HAIs), Health Care Workers (HCWs), universal precautions, respiratory hygiene & cough etiquette, patient safety guidelines
Sai Subhakar Desu. Savitha Rani B.B. Assessment of Knowledge, Attitude, and Practices on Hospital Acquired Infections, Prevention and Control Measures among a Group of Healthcare Workers – A Cross-Sectional Study. Int Clinc Med Case Rep Jour. 2023;2(3):1-16.