Abstract

This study was conducted to investigate the degree of nurses' knowledge, attitudes, and compliance with hospital infection standard precautions. The study subjects were nurses in a university hospital in Daegu, South Korea, and a self-administered survey was carried out using a standardized questionnaire from 1st to 15th August, 2012. A total of 187 questionnaires were used for analysis. Those who were injured by a syringe needle for the last year accounted for 29.96%, and those exposed to patients' blood or body fluid on their damaged skin/mucous membranes accounted for 26.2%. There were statistically significant differences in attitude and compliance according to safety environment for hospital infection standard precautions. The knowledge score of the subjects about standard precautions was $15.30{\pm}1.51$ on a 19 point scale and had significant difference according to the subjects' education level. The attitude score was $2.86{\pm}0.49$ on a 4 point scale and had significant difference depending on how experienced they were on the career. The compliance score was $3.41{\pm}0.38$ on a 4 point scale and had significant difference depending on their age and their experience on the career. In conclusion, it can be said that systematic and continuous practical training is required to improve compliance with standard precautions. Particularly, it is needed to provide less experienced nurses with educational opportunities along with their supervisors' ongoing attention and position personnel appropriately.

Keywords

• attitude;
• compliance;
• hospital infection standard precautions;
• knowledge