School of Health Sciences, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand.
School of Physical and Chemical Sciences, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand.
PLoS One. 2022 Aug 1;17(8):e0272248. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0272248. eCollection 2022.
Healthcare facilities reprocess and sterilize reusable medical devices before each invasive clinical procedure, such as surgery, to prevent person-to-person or environmental transmission of pathogens through medical devices. We conducted a nationwide multi-centre cross-sectional survey in primary and secondary-care public hospitals in Nepal to assess the knowledge and attitudes of healthcare workers towards sterilization and reuse of medical devices.
We carried out a multi-centre cross-sectional survey comprising eleven primary-care (two district-level and nine district hospitals) and two secondary-care (zonal hospitals) public hospitals which covered all seven provinces of Nepal. Survey questionnaires were distributed to 234 healthcare workers including doctors, nurses, paramedics, and office assistants (involved in medical device reprocessing); 219 (93.6%) returned the completed questionnaire. Descriptive analyses of demographic information, knowledge and attitude responses of survey participants were performed. Logistic regression and ordinal regression models for complex samples were used to investigate associations between responses and independent variables.
Except for a few areas, more than 70% of healthcare workers had proper knowledge about different aspects of sterilization and reuse of medical devices. Paramedics and office assistants were less likely to have the correct knowledge in different aspects compared to nurses. Permanent staff were more likely to give correct answers to some knowledge questions compared to temporary staff. Previous infection control training was positively associated with correct responses to some knowledge items. Most of the healthcare workers had positive attitudes towards different aspects of sterilization and reuse of medical devices, and nurses were more likely to have positive attitudes compared with other staff categories.
Most of the healthcare workers had correct knowledge and positive attitudes towards most areas of sterilization and reuse of medical devices. However, they need proper education and training in some areas such as sterilization procedures, storage of sterilized devices, prion decontamination and standard precautions.
医疗保健机构在每次侵入性临床操作（如手术）之前，对可重复使用的医疗器械进行再处理和消毒，以防止病原体通过医疗器械在人与人之间或环境中传播。我们在尼泊尔的初级和二级保健公立医疗机构中进行了一项全国性的多中心横断面调查，以评估医护人员对医疗器械消毒和再处理的知识和态度。
我们进行了一项多中心横断面调查，包括尼泊尔所有七个省的 11 家初级保健（2 家地区级和 9 家地区医院）和 2 家二级保健（区域医院）公立医疗机构。向 234 名医护人员（包括医生、护士、辅助医务人员和办公室助理（参与医疗器械再处理）分发了调查问卷；219 人（93.6%）返回了完整的问卷。对调查参与者的人口统计学信息、知识和态度反应进行描述性分析。使用复杂样本的逻辑回归和有序回归模型来调查反应与独立变量之间的关系。
除了少数几个领域外，超过 70%的医护人员对医疗器械消毒和再处理的不同方面有正确的认识。与护士相比，辅助医务人员和办公室助理在不同方面不太可能有正确的知识。与临时员工相比，固定员工更有可能对一些知识问题给出正确答案。以前的感染控制培训与对一些知识项目的正确反应呈正相关。大多数医护人员对医疗器械消毒和再处理的不同方面持积极态度，与其他员工类别相比，护士更有可能持积极态度。
大多数医护人员对医疗器械消毒和再处理的大多数方面都有正确的知识和积极的态度。然而，他们在一些领域，如消毒程序、消毒设备的储存、朊病毒的去污和标准预防措施，需要适当的教育和培训。
