KNOWLEDGE AND PRACTICE OF NURSES ON PREVENTION OF SURGICAL SITE INFECTIONS IN UNIVERSITY OF ILORIN TEACHING HOSPITAL, ILORIN NIGERIA
Background: Surgical site infection is a common healthcare-associated infection that can cause patients extreme pain and discomfort, resulting in prolonged hospitalization. Despite remarkable advances in the use of surgical techniques, prophylactic antibiotics and environmental improvements in the operating room, surgical site infections remain a significant cause of patient morbidity and mortality and are the third-most common source of hospital-acquired infection. Therefore, this study assessed the knowledge and practice of nurses on prevention of surgical site infection in University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital, Ilorin.
Methods: Descriptive cross-sectional design was adopted for this study. 100 out of 134 nurses working in the surgical wards were randomly selected through balloting. A self-developed questionnaire with reliability coefficient of 0.85 was used to collect data from participants daily for the period of two weeks. Data were treated and analyzed using SPSS version 24. The data were subjected to descriptive and inferential statistics of T-test at 0.05 level of significance to ascertain the relationship between variables.
Results: From this study, almost half (48%) of the respondents had B.Sc. and more than half (53%) of them had worked for 6 - 10 years as nurses. Good knowledge (90%) and practice (71%) of surgical site infection prevention was found among the nurses. Proper hand washing, adherence to infection prevention guidelines and nurses’ level of education were factors reported to promote the practice of SSI. Barriers identified include, un-conducive working environment, insufficient supply of surgical instruments, lack of motivation by the Hospital management and staff shortage. The practice of SSI’s prevention was not determined by years of professional experience of nurses (t-value = 0.459; df =99, p>0.05).
Conclusion: Hence, designing effective and prompt intervention initiatives that could promote the knowledge, practice and total compliance of prevention of SSI becomes imperatives in hospitals, this will require efforts from all stakeholders.