Last update:
23-Jan-2018

OBJECTIVE To investigate the knowledge and attitudes of medical and nurse staff in a secondary regional hospital about nosocomial infections.

METHOD A cross-sectional study was conducted using convenience sampling. The data collection was based on the Questionnaire for Healthcare-Associated Infections and the Perception Survey for Healthcare Workers, and demographic data, which were used as independent variables. Knowledge about nosocomial infections and clinical practice regarding hand hygiene and infections were the main focus of the study. Data analysis was performed with the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS, IBM), v. 21.0.

RESULTS The study population comprised 28 physicians and 56 nurses, after a response rate of 71.2% (84/118). The mean overall knowledge score about nosocomial infections was 61%. The highest knowledge score was on isolation precautions (89.5%) and the lowest was on hand hygiene (12.9%). Multivariate analysis revealed that physicians recorded a higher knowledge score than nurses on fundamental issues in nosocomial infections (p=0.009), and the source of nosocomial infections (p=0.001). The mean overall knowledge score was higher in healthcare professionals who reported that they washed their hands: Before and after examining patients (p=0.047), after taking off their gloves (p<0.001), before and after the contact with the patient's skin without gloves (p=0.01), between two different procedures on two different patients (p<0.001), and between two different procedures on the same patient.

CONCLUSIONS There is, in general, a lack of knowledge on the part of the medical and nursing staff about nosocomial infections in secondary hospitals, which should be addressed in order to reduce the incidence of infection.

Key words: Compliance, Hand hygiene, Healthcare professionals, Knowledge, Nosocomial infections, Occupational exposure.