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Knowledge, attitude and practice of nurses in the prevention of nosocomial infection among in-patients in UNIOSUN teaching hospital, Osogbo


V.A. Adeniyi
O.D. Akinwale
B.T. Akinbowale
R.O. Folami
J.S. Ajao

Abstract

Introduction: Nosocomial infection is one of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality among inpatients in the hospital and  constitutes a serious public health risk that impacts millions of people worldwide. Adopting infection prevention techniques has the  greatest potential to significantly lower the population's risk and incidence of Nosocomial Infection, especially in healthcare systems with  limited resources. Therefore, this study aimed to assess the knowledge, attitude, and practice of nurses toward the prevention of  Nosocomial Infection.


Methodology: This was a descriptive cross-sectional research design. Reliability was done through pilot testing,  face and content validity of the instrument were done. The study was carried out among one hundred and ninety-five (195) Nurses  working in UNIOSUN Teaching Hospital, Osun State, Nigeria between July and October 2023. An adapted questionnaire was used for data  collection and data collected were analyzed using descriptive statistics of frequencies and percentages while inferential statistics of chi- square was used to test the hypothesis at 0.05 level of significance.


Results: The result showed that 86% of the respondents had good  knowledge, 53.1% had negative attitudes and 84% had poor practices of prevention of nosocomial infection. The study also revealed no  significant relationship between demographic characteristics of age, gender, marital status, religion, ethnicity, years of experience, ward/ unit, professional rank, and knowledge of nosocomial infection. Also, no statistically significant relationship between knowledge and  practice of prevention of 2 nosocomial infection (x =0.231, df = 1, and p=value > 0.05).


Conclusion: This study therefore concluded that  there existed adequate level of knowledge but negative attitude and poor practice in the prevention of nosocomial infection among  nurses. Also, there is a need for proper in-service training for nurses and midwives, as well as provision of adequate resources for  effective practices of nosocomial infection prevention within the hospital.  


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eISSN: 2467-8252
print ISSN: 2360-7793