Knowledge, attitude and practices for Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) in nursing staff of ICU in a tertiary care centre in South Gujarat

Abstract

Background: To prevent nosocomial infections among Healthcare workers (HCW), patients and even their family members. So, nurses and other HCW ought to have knowledge regarding correct use of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE). Aims and Objective: To assess their knowledge towards use of PPE. 2) To understand their attitude about prevention of nosocomial infections. 3) To determine their application of practices and behavior towards use of PPE. Materials and Methods: The study was a cross sectional study carried out in a tertiary care centre in south Gujarat. Nurses were asked to fill out a questionnaire based on abovementioned topics after explaining them the purpose of the study, assuring them about privacy and asking for consent. The data was collected andanalyzedwiththehelpofMicrosoftofficetoolsandSPSSandresultswereobtained. Results: The result in section of knowledge was 5.05(56.1%) which was lower than expected. Also results of attitude related questions were 4.38(62.5%) and could be improved. Inspite of this results in above categories there were excellent score i.e. 8.34(83.4%) practices among them and good response to improving compliance towards the same.There was a positive correlation between knowledge and attitude and nurses with higher work experience had higher scores in this area. Conclusion: Nursing staff of ICU in a tertiary care centre in South Gujarat are overall well prepared in terms of PPE availability and maintaining a healthy practice of PPE usage. But some gaps are found which can be filled with monthly or quarterly seminars, more meetings for the same cause and increasing teamwork to have better infection control practices.