SYSTEMATIC REVIEW ON THE PREDICTORS OF KNOWLEDGE AND PRACTICE ON STANDARD PRECAUTIONS (SP) AMONG HEALTHCARE WORKERS (HCWS)

Abstract

Background: Standard Precautions (SP) is important in preventing healthcare-associated infections (HAI) as well occupational infection among healthcare workers (HCWs) in healthcare facilities. However, the knowledge and practice of SP among HCWs is still poor. Objectives: To identify the predictors for knowledge and practice of Standard Precautions among HCWs. Materials and Methods: Articles were searched using Pubmed, Medline, Scopus and Google Scholar search engines using keywords “Standard Precautions OR infection control AND knowledge practice”. Types of studies included are analytical observational studies. Only English articles published from 2010 to 2018, accessible as full texts and evaluating multiple components of Standard Precautions were included in the review. Result: There are 10 articles included in this study. Several predictors had been identified through this review such as age, marital status, clinical experience, knowledge, administrative role, grade of hospital and working department, training, history of blood and body fluid exposure and constructs of Health Belief Model (HBM). Conclusion: HBM’s construct is among the important predictors of knowledge and practice on SP. Program aiming at comprehensive education and training about knowledge and practice on SP tailored to the HBM’s construct could help improve the compliance with SP among the HCWs in order to reduce the chances of occupational exposure to infections. Keywords: Standard Precautions, predictors, healthcare workers, knowledge and practice, infection control.