The knowledge and compliance with the universal precautions and the prevalence of percutaneous injuries among registered nurses in selected county hospitals in Kenya.

Abstract

Objective: To establish the level of knowledge and compliance with the Universal Precautions and the prevalence of Percutanous injuries among Registered nurses in Selected County Referral Hospitals in Kenya.
Design: A cross-sectional hospital-based quantitative study.
Setting: Baringo County Referral Hospital and Nandi County Referral Hospital both of which are situated in the Rift Valley Region of Kenya.
Subjects: The respondents were all the Registered Nurses in the selected County Referral Hospitals.
Results: The study established that the majority(87.6%, n=145) of the Registered Nurses are considered knowledgeable on the Universal Precaution. The difference between the means in knowledge scores of the two groups is significant at the 0.01 level, t(143)=3.820, p<0.01. Those who were Compliant with the Universal Precautions was a minority(42.1 %, n=145). Compliance with the Universal Precautions and was predicted by knowledge on the Universal Precautions(R²:0.25, p<0.01). A majority(57.2%, n=145) of the respondents had experienced at least one percutaneous injuries with those afflicted recording an average of 2.2 (SD=1.3) injuries per person in the last five years. Using Logistic Regression, it was established that Odds ratio of getting afflicted with Percutaneous Injuries comparing by gender is 0.47, 95%CI= (0.22-0.99). Simple linear regression established that the number of percutaneous injuries are predicted by age(R²:0.48, p<0.01) and experience in years(R²:0.59, p<0.01).
Conclusion: The study concluded that the level of knowledge of the Universal Precautions among the Registered Nurses is very good but is not corresponding to the relatively average compliance of the same Universal Precautions. Knowledge of the Universal Precautions was identified as a predictor to compliance with the Universal Precautions. Percutaneous Injuries occurences are common to the Registered Nurses and most of those affected are relactant to reportto the authorities for further management. 

Keywords: Percutaneous Injuries, Universal Precautions,Standard Precautions, Compliance.