Abstract
Introduction: Health care associated infections (HAIs) are likely to be the most common complication of hospital care. World Health Organization (WHO) estimates these infections to occur among 7% - 12% of the hospitalized patients globally, with more than 1.4 million people suffering from infectious complications acquired in the hospital at any time. Keeping this in mind, the present study was conducted to delineate the level of knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP) for the use of proper disinfection procedures among the final year undergraduate medical students in a tertiary care hospital and teaching institute. Methodology: Present study was conducted at Government Medical College, Surat, a tertiary care hospital and teaching institute. The participants who gave consent were provided with a pre-tested questionnaire that included several questions on knowledge attitude and practices on hospital acquired infections and its control practices. Analysis of the answers was done based on KAP score. Result: 80 students who consented were included in the study. 75% of the study population had correct knowledge about the most common health care associated infections (HAIs), being infection of venous access, urinary tract infection, respiratory infections and surgical site infections, based on their current knowledge on hospital acquired infections. Majority of study participants agreed with the fact that the inappropriate application of disinfection procedures increases the risk for a health care worker of either acquiring or transmitting a HAI from/to a patient. >90% participants had a good attitude towards risk of getting or transmitting any infectious disease by a Health care worker (HCW) while working and the utility of the application of disinfection procedures during work would reduce the rates of HAI. Practices of the students towards disinfection during performance of certain medical procedures ranged from 10% to 88% of the times showing poor practices of the medical students in following disinfection practices. Conclusion: In the present study the knowledge of medical students for the most common cause of hospital acquired infection was satisfactory. The overall attitude of the students was satisfactory as the mean score was 8. The practices of the students for the application of disinfection during performance of certain medical procedures were also satisfactory, although time to time training and tutorials of these students can help in increasing their knowledge, attitude and practices.
Highlights
Health care associated infections (HAIs) are likely to be the most common complication of hospital care
Majority of study participants agreed with the fact that the inappropriate application of disinfection procedures increases the risk for a health care worker of either acquiring or transmitting a HAI from/to a patient. >90% participants had a good attitude towards risk of getting or transmitting any infectious disease by a Health care worker (HCW) while working and the utility of the application of disinfection procedures during work would reduce the rates of HAI
Responses from the study participants showed a mean score of 7 with the highest score being 9 and the lowest being 4. >90% participants had a good attitude towards risk of getting or transmitting any infectious disease by a HCW while working and the utility of the application of disinfection procedures during work would reduce the rates of HAI
Summary
Healthcare associated infection, alternatively called “hospital acquired infection” (HAI), or “nosocomial infection” refers to the infection occurring in patients after admission at the hospital for a reason other than that infection; an infection that was neither present nor incubating at the time of admission. This includes infections acquired in the hospital but appearing during hospital stay or after discharge, and occupational infections among staff of the facility [1] [2] [3]. The students regularly attended the in-patient and out-patient clinics along with operation theatres, so assessment of their knowledge, attitudes, and practices for HAI is of crucial importance
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