KNOWLEDGE AND ATTITUDE TOWARDS INFECTION CONTROL AMONG NURSES WORKING AT SELECTED HOSPITAL IN BANGLADESH

Abstract

Health care providers, especially nurses and doctors are constantly exposed to microorganisms and most of them can be affected by serious as well as lethal infections. The estimations shows that the risk of nosocomial infection is 2 to 20 times higher in developing countries compared to developed countries. The study was aimed to assess the level of knowledge and attitude towards infection control among the nurses in a selected hospital in Bangladesh. A descriptive cross-sectional type of study was carried out, data were collected using selfadministered semi-structured questionnaire and it was analysed using SPSS version 20. About 77.4% of the respondents were in the age group 23-33 years and above eight-tenths (84.5%) of the respondents were female. Below half (46.5%) of the respondents had diploma in nursing and more than six-tenths (68.4%) of the respondents had <5 years of service experience. Most (92.3%) of the respondents mentioned that infection happens when germs invade in a body and cause diseases. Majority (93.5%) of the respondents know about the signs and symptoms of infection and more than three-fifths (67.1%) of the respondents had attended training on infection control. The findings of this study reveal that more than seventy percent of the nurses had good level of knowledge regarding the infection control and two-thirds of the nurses were found to have positive attitude towards infection control. Training programs on infection prevention and control for newly healthcare providers should be provided.