A multicentric study to ascertain knowledge, attitude and practices for infection prevention and control amongst nurses

Background: Infection prevention and control (IPC) is the key component to curtail the spread of infections and combating rising antimicrobial resistance (AMR) amongst bacteria. Objectives: The present study was conducted to assess the knowledge, attitude and practices (KAPs) for IPC amongst nurses. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional, multicentric, hospital-based survey was conducted on 328 nurses from January to November 2018 using a self-administered questionnaire from public and private quaternary-, tertiary- and secondary-level hospitals. Results: The overall score for infection control practices was low, with knowledge score being 51%, attitude 73% and good practices score 57%. The gaps were identified across all components with major gaps in the knowledge of care of devices (74%), barrier nursing/isolation precautions (60%), indications of using hand rub (55%), understanding the meaning of healthcare-associated infections, AMR (50%) and optimum use of personnel protective equipment (44%). In attitude and practices, injection safety emerged as the weakest area, with >40% of nurses being neither aware nor practicing the correct techniques of reconstituting, administering injectable medicines and maintaining asepsis. Conclusion: There is an urgent need of rigorous, regular, restructured, standardised training programmes focussing on the weak areas for nurses in healthcare settings. Training programmes need supervision and provision of enabling environment in healthcare settings to facilitate the implementation of evidence-based IPC guidelines.