Factors influencing compliance with infection prevention standard precautions among nurses working at Mbagathi district hospital, Nairobi, Kenya
Abstract
Introduction: Nurses are at risk of acquiring and transmitting hospital acquired infections in
the course of delivering the nursing care. Measures to prevent the transmission of these
infectious microorganisms are therefore a significant component of nursing care Amadu &
Saka, (2012).
Aim: The aim of this study was to determine the knowledge, practice and factors influencing
compliance with infection prevention standard precautions among nurses working at
Mbagathi District Hospital, Nairobi, Kenya.
Methods: A cross-sectional survey of 90 nurses working in medical, surgical, paediatric and
maternity wards was conducted using self administered questionnaires, observation checklist
and key informant interview guide. Purposive sampling was used to select the wards and
simple random sampling to select the participants. SPSS version 17 was used to analyze
quantitative data and Nvivo version 8 was used to analyse qualitative data.
Results: Out of the 90 participants, 83.3% were females and 16.7% were males. A large
proportion of the participants (64.4%) (n=90) were trained at diploma level. Only 17.8%
(n=90) of the participants had adequate knowledge on the basic elements of infection
prevention standard precautions. The association between knowledge on the elements of
standard precautions and having attended formal training on infection prevention was
statistically significant (p=0.015). A lower proportion of participants (33.3%) (n=18)
performed hand hygiene always when indicated. Gloves were the most utilized personal
protective equipment by 88.9% (n=18) of the participants, gowns by 61.1% (n=18) and 5.6%
xv
(n=18) used mouth and eye protection. The practice of recapping used needles was
uncommon, 94.4% (n=18) of the participants disposed of the syringe and needle immediately
into puncture resistant containers without recapping. Non availability of infection prevention
materials and lack of regular continuous medical education on infection prevention were the
major reported causes for non compliance with standard precautions.
Conclusion and Recommendations: Majority of nurses had inadequate knowledge on the
basic components / elements of IP standard precautions and their compliance was suboptimal.
Availability of essential infection prevention resources was inconsistent. Hospital
management team should facilitate procurement of all essential infection prevention materials
and infection prevention committee in collaboration with hospital management team should
be conducting regular continuous medical education on infection and should also develop an
induction program for newly recruited nurses.
Citation
Master Of Science In Nursing (medical Surgical Nursing) Of The University Nairobi November,2013Publisher
University of Nairobi, School of nursing