Knowledge, attitude and practice towards nosocomial infections among healthcare workers in Ijebu- Ode Local Government Area of Ogun State

Abstract

Nosocomial infections, also known as hospital-acquired infections are contracted when providing medical care to an individual in health facilities or undergoing medical treatment. As a result, this study investigated the knowledge, attitude and practice towards nosocomial infections among healthcare workers in Ijebu- Ode Local Government Area of Ogun State. The study adopted descriptive survey design and one hundred and fifty –three health care workers were used for the study. Furthermore, the level of knowledge, attitude and practice among healthcare workers towards nosocomial infections were measured. The study revealed that 77.8% of the healthcare workers had high knowledge, 63.4% had high attitude while 60.8% had high preventive practices towards nosocomial infections. There was a weak correlation (p< 0.05) between age and knowledge; year of practice and preventive practices among healthcare workers. The healthcare workers stated that Bacteria are the most common causative organism (39.21%) followed by virus (26.14%) for nosocomial infections. Furthermore, Respiratory tract infection (33.3%) was the most prevalent type of nosocomial infections followed by surgical site infection (22.8%). Individuals that were likely to contact nosocomial infections are surgically operated patient; patient with low immune status; patient in labor ward. It can be concluded that the healthcare workers has high level of knowledge, attitude and preventive practices towards nosocomial infections, and respiratory tract is the commonest type of nosocomial infections.