Awareness and Practice of Standard Precaution for Infection Control among Student Nurses

Abstract

Infection control is a critical concern in any health care setting among healthcare providerswhich include student nurses. The dearth of literature and studies among student nursesprompted the conduct of this study. This study sought to determine the awareness andpractice of standard precaution (handwashing, safe handling of needles and other sharpdevices, and disposal of contaminated materials) for infection control among student nurses.It also determined the relationship between awareness and practice on standard precaution forinfection control, the difference in the practice of standard precaution for infection controlwhen gender and year level were considered, and the predictors of practice of standardprecaution for infection control. Data were collected from 121nursing students comprising of2nd, 3rd and 4th years. Participants were obtained through purposive sampling, from one ofthe universities in the Philippines. Results showed that the awareness of the respondents wasvery high, practice of standard precautions for infection control in terms of handwashing andproper handling and disposal of contaminated materials were excellent, with very goodpractice in terms of safe handling of needles and other sharp devices. There was statisticallysignificant relationship between awareness and practice on standard precaution in terms ofproper handling and disposal of contaminated materials, wherein those with high awarenessare more likely to have a better practice. However, there was no significant relationshipbetween awareness and the practice of standard precautions for infection control in terms ofhandwashing and safe handling of needles and other sharp devices. Year level and gender didnot make any significant difference in the practice of standard precaution for infection control.However, year level and gender were significant predictors of practice of standard precautionfor infection control in terms of safe handling of needles and other sharp devices, whereinstudents in higher level tend to have a better practice. Awareness was a significant predictorof practice of standard precaution for infection control in terms of proper handling anddisposal of contaminated materials, wherein the higher the awareness the better is the practice.Standard precaution for infection control concept and proper practice should be introduced tothe students as early as their first year in the nursing program.