Level of Adherence to Universal Precautions by Nurses at the 37 Military Hospital, Accra.

Abstract

In the process of delivering healthcare to patients, nurses in the quest to meet up with the pressures at work and to satisfy each patient tend to devise irregular approaches to work rather than adhering to the universal precautions. This predisposes them to occupational injuries and risks, such as needle stick injuries, leading to time and efficiency loss resulting in low productivity at the work place. The main objective of the study was to determine the level of adherence to universal precautions by Nurses at 37 Military Hospital. This specifically is to measures the proportion of nurses who adhere to universal precaution and assess the knowledge of nurses in the handling of patient body fluids, patients related contaminants and determine factors that impinge on the adherence to universal precautions by nurses. A cross sectional study was conducted to assess the level of adherence to universal precautions by nurses. The sample population for this research was made up of one hundred and twenty (120) nurses aged between 20-60 years. A pre-tested structured questionnaire and checklist were used to obtain the data. Results were analyzed and appropriate measures of centrality and of dispersion were calculated using STATA. In addition, graphical displays such as frequency distributions were created.

Findings from this study shows that 114 (95%) of nurses adhered to universal precautions while 6 (5%) did not. Of the total 120 respondents, 74 (61.7%) were females, with 73 (60.8%) of the nurses aged between 20-29 years. Seventy-four (61.7%) of the respondents have certificate or diploma qualification. Out of 120 respondents, 66 (55%) had worked for at least 3 years and above while 54 (45%) had worked close to 2 years. Only 56 (46.7%) of nurses have had full course hepatitis B vaccination and 40 (30%) of them said there was inadequate provision of basic equipment to promote hand hygien Major factors identified that affect nurses ability to meet the requirement for adherence to universal precautions include, the dearth of equipment, training on the use of personal protective equipment, establishment of policy and procedures in infection prevention and control and mandating nurses to take the Hepatitis B vaccine at a subsidized cost for their safety. The study brings to the fore lack of coordination between safety, standard operation procedures and adherence to universal precaution by nurses.