Knowledge and Practice of Infection Control Measures among Cleaners in Lagos University Teaching Hospital, Idi- Araba Lagos

Abstract

Background: Healthcare workers including cleaners are at risk of contracting infection. Hospital cleaners play important roles in the prevention of health care associated infections and cleanliness of the environment, but they are not easily recognised as healthcare workforce. This study assessed knowledge and practice of infection control measures among cleaners in Lagos University Teaching Hospital, Idi-Araba, Lagos.
Materials and methods: This was a cross-sectional descriptive study that was made up of 230 respondents. Convenience sampling technique was used for the selection of the respondents. A structured pretested questionnaire was used for data collection. The reliability values of the instruments using Cronbach alpha were 0.76 and 0.80 for knowledge and practice respectively. Data were analysed using SPSS version 23. Descriptive statistics of frequency counts, percentage, bar chart, pie chart and mean were used to analyse the demographic variables and research questions; inferential statistics of Chi-square was used to test the three hypotheses generated at 0.05 level of significance.
Result: Findings showed that the mean age of respondents was 35.23 years; 144 respondents (62.6%) had secondary education; 205 respondents (89.1%) have had training on infection control. 225 respondents (97.8%) had adequate knowledge (Good 21.30% and Moderate 76.50%) regarding infection control measures though 38 respondents (16.5%) did not know that they should use heavy duty gloves when tying waste and 24 respondents (10.4%) did not know that latex gloves should not be reused. On practice, all the respondents (100%) had adequate practice (Good 11.1% and Moderate 88.9%) but 7 respondents (3.0%) never changed gloves immediately when torn and 28 respondents (12.2%) never used heavy duty gloves for waste disposal. On respondents' exposure/injury experience, 121 respondents (52.6%) had ever experienced sharps' injury and 117 respondents (50.9%) did not report the experience. 133 respondents (57.8%) had not received vaccination for Hepatitis B; 180 respondents (78.3%) had ever been tested for HIV out of which 8 respondents (3.5%) were positive. There is statistically significant relationship between knowledge and practice of infection control measures (p=0.002), no significant relationship between previous training and knowledge (P=0.797) and between previous training and practice (p=0.066).
Conclusion: Majority of the respondents had adequate knowledge and practice of infection control measures. Notwithstanding, there should be adequate training to address the gap in proper use of different types of gloves and in their exposure/injury experience.