Yemeni Nurses' Knowledge and Practices of Nosocomial Infection Control Measures at Baseline: An Intervention Study

Abstract

Background: Nurses play an important role in reducing nosocomial infection. Assessing their knowledge and practices in infection prevention and control measures is the starting point in planning and developing an effective educational need-based intervention. Aim: To assess nurses’ knowledge and practices of infection prevention and control measures at baseline. Methods: This was part of an intervention study conducted from May 1th to 31 October 2016 in Aza’al Region, Yemen. It was carried out prior to the educational intervention of infection prevention and control among Yemeni nurses. Results: A total of 540 nurses were recruited. Baseline results showed that most participants (94.6%) had a poor level of knowledge and more than half of them (53.9%) had a poor level of practices. There was a significant association between the degree of previous in-service training in NIs control measures and the nurses’ knowledge (P=0.004). Discussion: The current study highlighted the level of Yemeni nurses’ knowledge and practices in infection prevention and control at baseline. It also identified the factors associated with the Yemeni nurses’ knowledge and practices in NIs control and prevention at baseline. Therefore, the study provides useful insights into developing future educational programs on infection control measures in nursing education.