Knowledge and Awareness of the Health Care Workers about the Hepatitis B Infection and their Vaccination Status in a Newly Started Medical College.

INTRODUCTION

Healthcare workers (HCWs) are at high risk of hepatitis B virus infection (HBI) and so the present study was carried out to assess the knowledge of HCWs in a tertiary care medical college about HBI and hepatitis B vaccine (HBV).

METHOD

After obtaining approval from Institutional Ethics Committee and informed consent from the study participants, HCWs that included teaching faculty, resident doctors, medical students, nurses, laboratory technicians, administrative staff and support staff (ward boys, attendants and sweepers) were administered a validated questionnaire. Descriptive statistics was applied for the categorical variables and the Chi-square test of association was used to assess the statistical significance of variables.

RESULTS

A total of 300 HCWs were recruited for the study. Although, the overall knowledge amongst all the HCWs was found to be 68%, only 35.3%HCWs knew the transmission risk by needle stick injury (NSI). Similarly, only 40% correctly knew the precautions to be taken for preventing an NSI and 17% for the steps to be taken to disinfect a blood splash. Almost 92.7% (278/300) HCWs were aware about the availability of a vaccine, of which only 41% (1123/300) knew that vaccine will not work in case the patient is already infected. When asked about the steps to be taken in case of an NSI in non-vaccinated HCWs, only 54.7% (164/300) replied about treatment with both immunoglobulin and vaccination. A total of 160 (53.3%) HCWs were found to be vaccinated. The most common reason for not taking vaccination included an improper understanding of HBV and the infection it causes.

CONCLUSION

To conclude, the study highlights good knowledge about hepatitis B infection with requirement of more emphasis on the practical aspects of management in a case of NSI/blood splash and can guide to improve the vaccination status and knowledge of HBI amongst HCWs.