Akagbo Sandra Enyonam, Nortey Priscillia, Ackumey Mercy M
Wisconsin International University College, Ghana, Box LG 751, Legon, Ghana.
School of Public Health, College of Health Sciences, University of Ghana, P. O. Box LG 13, Legon, Ghana.
BMC Res Notes. 2017 Aug 30;10(1):432. doi: 10.1186/s13104-017-2748-9.
Implementing standard precautions (SP) has been a major challenge for health care workers (HCWs) especially those in developing countries thereby compromising their safety and increasing their exposure to blood-related pathogens. Compliance with safety precautions and occupational accidents among health workers are often unreported. The literature on knowledge and compliance to SP in Ghana is scanty. We report findings of a study that examined knowledge of SP, compliance and barriers to compliance with SP among HCWs in two health facilities in Ghana.
This is a facility-based cross-sectional study involving 100 HCWs from two health facilities in the Lower Manya Krobo District of the Eastern region. Statistical analysis summarised data on socio-demographic characteristics of respondents, knowledge of SP and compliance and barriers to SP in frequencies and percentages.
Most respondents had been working as health staff for 0-5 years (65.0%). Generally, knowledge of the basic concepts of SP was low; only 37.0% of HCWs knew that SP includes hand washing before and after any direct contact with the patient, 39.0% knew about cough etiquettes and 40.0% knew about aseptic techniques which involve infection prevention strategies to minimise the risks of infection. Fifty percent of respondents always protect themselves against BBFs of patients. About a quarter of the respondents do not recap needles after use and 28.0% of respondents sometimes promptly wipe all blood spills. HCWs were of the opinion that wearing PPEs-such as gloves, aprons, gowns and goggles-might cause patients to panic sometimes (63.0%) and complying with SP sometimes interferes with the ability to provide care (38.0%). Sometimes, because of the demands of patient care, HCWs do not have enough time to comply with the rigours of SP (44.0%) and sometimes PPEs are not available.
Education programmes on the benefits of SP should be organised frequently. The OHS national policy together with the application of the IPC training manual in all health care facilities must be enforced. Communities of practice should be established and sanctions and rewards should be introduced to limit negative behavior and reinforce positive attitudes as regards SP.
实施标准预防措施（SP）对医护人员来说一直是一项重大挑战，尤其是在发展中国家的医护人员，这危及了他们的安全，增加了他们接触血液相关病原体的风险。医护人员对安全预防措施的遵守情况以及职业事故往往未得到报告。关于加纳医护人员对标准预防措施的知识和遵守情况的文献很少。我们报告了一项研究的结果，该研究调查了加纳两家医疗机构中医护人员对标准预防措施的知识、遵守情况以及遵守标准预防措施的障碍。
这是一项基于机构的横断面研究，涉及来自东部地区下曼亚克罗博区两家医疗机构的100名医护人员。统计分析以频率和百分比总结了关于受访者社会人口特征、标准预防措施知识、遵守情况以及标准预防措施障碍的数据。
大多数受访者担任医护人员0至5年（65.0%）。总体而言，对标准预防措施基本概念的了解程度较低；只有37.0%的医护人员知道标准预防措施包括在与患者进行任何直接接触前后洗手，39.0%的人了解咳嗽礼仪，40.0%的人了解无菌技术，即涉及预防感染策略以尽量减少感染风险的技术。50%的受访者总是会保护自己免受患者血液和体液飞溅物（BBFs）的伤害。约四分之一的受访者在使用后不会重新盖帽针头，28.0%的受访者有时会及时擦拭所有血液溢出物。医护人员认为，穿戴个人防护装备（PPE），如手套、围裙、长袍和护目镜，有时可能会使患者恐慌（63.0%），遵守标准预防措施有时会干扰提供护理的能力（38.0%）。有时，由于患者护理的需求，医护人员没有足够的时间严格遵守标准预防措施（44.0%），而且有时没有个人防护装备。
应经常组织关于标准预防措施益处的教育项目。必须执行职业健康与安全国家政策，并在所有医疗机构应用感染预防与控制（IPC）培训手册。应建立实践社区，并引入制裁和奖励措施，以限制关于标准预防措施的消极行为并强化积极态度。
