KNOWLEDGE, PRACTICES AND ASSOCIATED FACTORS ON PREVENTION OF SURGICAL SITE INFECTION AMONG NURSES WORKING IN SELECTED HOSPITALS, HYDERABAD, TELANGANA

Background of the study: A surgical site infection is an infection that occurs after surgery in the part of the body where the surgical incision took place. Surgical site infections are one of the most common and costly hospital acquired infection. Nosocomial infections accounts for 7% in developed countries and 10% in developing countries. World Health Organization (WHO) shows that surgical site infection (SSI) is the most surveyed and frequent type of HAI in low- and middle-income countries and affects up to one third of patients who have undergone a surgical procedure. This infection is capable to increased hospital stay, additional cost and increased morbidity and mortality. Nurses can be the channel in the prevention of surgical site infection, decreases patients' economic burden as well as hospital expenses and enhance quality of life of the patients by the application of knowledge and recommended practices. To assess the Aim: knowledge and practice on prevention of surgical site infection among the nurses and too nd out the association of knowledge and practice scores with the selected demographic variables. A cross- sectional descriptive study was undertaken Methods: to assess the knowledge and practices and associated factors on prevention of surgical site infection among the nurses working in selected Hospitals, Hyderabad, Telangana. Purposive sampling technique was used to select 100 nurses working in surgical intensive care unit and post-surgical wards. Data collection was done by using structured knowledge questionnaire and observational checklist. Data analysis was done by using descriptive and inferential statistics. Results: Data revealed that majority of the nurses showed 64% average knowledge and 79% average practices. There is signicant correlation between knowledge and practices of the nurses at 0.05 level of signicance. The ndings of the current study demonstrated average knowledge and average practices. The study concludes that nurses have the opportunity to lessen the Conclusion: probability of hospital acquired infection. They are the one who can assist the patients in their recovery and reduce the complications associated with infections by the utilization of adequate knowledge and practices.