Knowledge and Practices Regarding Standard Precaution among Nurses Working in B. P. Koirala Institute of Health Science, Dharan, Nepal

Background: Standard Precautions combine the major features of Universal Precautions and Body Substance Isolation and are based on the principle that all blood, body fluids, secretions, excretions may contain transmissible infectious agents1. Standard Precautions include a group of infection prevention practices that apply to all patients, regardless of suspected or confirmed infection status, in any setting in which healthcare is delivered2. Standard precautions are designed to reduce the risk of transmission of microorganisms from both recognized and unrecognized sources of infection in hospitals. Objectives: To assess the knowledge on Standard Precautions and to observe the use of Standard Precautions into practice. Methods: This was a cross sectional observational study conducted in the different department of B.P.K.I.H.S. Nurses of different departments was considered in this study. Questionnaires were distributed to know the knowledge and attitude of Standard precautions and they were observed to assess the utilization of their knowledge into practice. Collected data were entered in Microsoft Excel 2007 and converted it into SPSS 11.5 version for statistical analysis. Results: Although 89.3% of all the respondents have heard the term Standard Precaution, only 53.7% were familiar with the concept of Standard Precaution. Of these 89.3% believe that the Standard Precautions should be applied to all irrespective of disease pattern. BPKIHS has Guidelines terms ?Infection control Guidelines? which follow Standard Precautions to some extent. Only 72.2% were aware of these Guidelines. Most of the correct knowledge was found to be relating to sharp disposal in the respective department (100%) but the knowledge on treatment of sharps after use was only 93.2%. knowledge on hand washing, using soap/disinfectant during hand washing, was 76.6%, 91.7% respectively. From the components of standard precautions for which correct knowledge was expressed, practice of washing hand before touching patient was 38%, before putting on gloves was 21.5%, and after removing gloves was 90.2%.77.1% of respondent expressed recapping of needle before disposal but only 65.4% had correct knowledge using one handed technique. Although the entire participant (100%) disposed sharps properly despite knowledge (93.2%), only 22.9% participant use appropriate method (one handed) of recapping before disposal. CDC guidelines take a broader approach for infection prevention which include blood borne, airborne, and epidemiologically important pathogens, in this context knowledge of wearing mask during providing services was only 58.5%, practically only 32.2% used it. Conclusion: Knowledge of standard precautions has a direct impact in the health of patients and HCW. To convert Knowledge of standard precautions into practice respective organization must create the safe environmental climate during patient care. Intervention should be made to improve SP compliance for all healthcare workers. All healthcare worker needs to be addressed not only their knowledge and understanding but also the safety climate created by them. High level of exposure to blood and blood product while working highlights the urgent need for intervention to enhance occupational safety to prevent unnecessary transmission of BBD during work. Strategies should be made for promoting injection safety to prevent transmission of nosocomial infections via unsafe injection practice.