NURSES’ KNOWLEDGE ON POST EXPOSURE PROPHYLAXIS FOR HEPATITIS B VIRUS INFECTION IN TERTIARY CARE HOSPITAL

Abstract

Background: Nurses are most vulnerable group for having Hepatitis B Virus (HBV) infection from blood and body fluids. These infections are prevent­able if the nurses have proper knowledge regarding Post Exposure Prophy­laxis (PEP) for hepatitis B virus infections and utilize the PEP services. This study aimed to find out the nurses’ knowledge on PEP for HBV infection. 
 Methods: A descriptive survey design was carried out among 116 random­ly selected nurses working in different wards of tertiary care hospital. Data was collected from July 8th 2018 to 21st July 2018 using pre-tested self-administered questionnaire. Descriptive statistics was used to describe the variables and chi-square test was applied to explore the association between variables. 
 Results: Results of the study revealed that only 22.4% nurses had good, 21.6% had average, and 56.0% had poor knowledge on PEP for HBV. Majority (68.1%) of the nurses knew about the testing of HBsAg serum antigen after exposure. However, few nurses had knowledge on risk per­centage of getting infection (29.3%), contact person for risk assessment (33.6%), constituents of PEP (29.9%), and PEP treatment for unvaccinat­ed/incompletely vaccinated nurse in case of positive (38.8%) and negative (34.5%) sources. Moreover, working unit (p=0.037) and working experi­ence (p=0.027) were the significant variables associated with the level of knowledge on PEP. 
 Conclusions: More than half of nurses’ have poor knowledge on PEP for hepatitis B virus. Hence, there is need of regular in-service education and training for nurses on PEP for HBV to enhance their knowledge and to pre­vent potential infections.