Knowledge and Practice about Post-Operative Infection Control among Nurses working in a Selected Specialized Hospital in Dhaka City

Sabina Akter , Shirin Sultana , Rita Khandaker , Ratna Khatun , Shima Begum , Faisal Muhammad

Abstract: Background: Infection is an important arbiter of success or failure of surgical practice and it is the most common form of postoperative and a major cause of mortality in all surgical specialties. Advanced practice nurses play a vital role in patient care, the nurse make sure the equipment are sterile and stay sterile till the end of surgery. The study was aimed to identify the level of knowledge and practice about post-operative infection control among nurses working in a selected specialized hospital in Dhaka city. Methods: A descriptive cross sectional study was conducted among 120 nurses working at National Institute of Cardio- Vascular Diseases Hospital (NICVD) Bangladesh. The study was carried out from April to July 2015. The information was collected using self-administered semi-structured questionnaire. The questionnaire composed of three parts: Socio-demographic characteristics, knowledge and practice. The data analysis was done using SPSS version 19. Results: In present study the mean age of the respondents was 38.76±5.119 years. The majority (93.3%) of the respondents were female and 95% of them were married. About 35.0% of the respondent’s working unit was operation theatre (OT). About 63.3% of the respondents had received training regarding infection control and 81.7% of the respondents knew the micro-organisms responsible for post-operative infection. About 75% of the respondents knew the good sign for no post-operative infection and 90.0% of the respondents knew the steps of hand washing. Conclusion: Our findings reported that little below half of the nurses had high level of knowledge regarding the post-operative infection control. It also reported that close to half of the nurses had high level of practice regarding the post-operative infection control. Education and training program should be conducted to improve nurses’ knowledge and practice in some areas using evidence-based practice.

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