ASSESSMENT OF KNOWLEDGE, ATITUDE AND PRACTICEOF INFECTION PREVENTIONAMONG HEALTHPROFESSIONALS IN WOLKITE UNIVERSITY SPECIALIZED TEACHING HOSPITAL, GURAGE ZONE SOUTH REGION,ETHIOPIA.

Abstract

Back ground: - Infection prevention can be defined as measures practiced by health care personnel in health care facilities to decrease transmission and acquisition of infectious agents. Infection in health care facilities is a major public health problem in most developing countries like Ethiopia and the overall incidence is increasing. Nosocomial infections occur in 5%-45% of all hospital patients in Ethiopia and infection prevention practices are geared towards reduction of occurrence and transmission of infectious disease. Objective: - To assess the knowledge and practice of infection prevention among health Professionals in Wolkite University Specialized TeachingHospital2021.Method:-A Hospital-based cross-sectional study was conducted with a structured pre-tested questionnaire among 154 participants. The healthcare workers were selected through systematic random sampling technique. Data was entered and analyze by the computer using SPSS version 20.0 statistical software package. Frequencies of descriptive statists was presented by using graphs, percentages and tables. Results:-. In this study out of total 154 sampled health professional, 143 of them were enrolled in the study which made response rate of 92.8%. 54.7% of health professionals had participated in training program dedicated to infection prevention and 60% of them had needle stick or sharp injuries. Almost all 98.9% of respondents had ever worn personal protective equipments and 53.7% wash their hand before touching the patient. Conclusion and Recommendation:- The study had shown that nearly two-thirds of health care workers were knowledgeable about infection prevention and only less than half of the health care workers had a negative attitude towards infection prevention. Nearly above half of the health care workers had safe practices for infection prevention. This study is very important as it gives some baseline information about information for the administrative concerned bodies and for the health care provider to improve their practice to provide good care to the patient. Further comprehensive research should be done on Infection prevention among health professionals.