Awareness and practices regarding standard precautions for infection control among the nurses during the COVID pandemic in a Medical Teaching Institute in Eastern India: a cross sectional study

Introduction: Health-care associated infections (HAIs) is one of the serious problems that face healthcare providers. Occupational exposure to blood borne pathogens from needle sticks and other sharps injuries is a serious problem but it is often preventable. When nurses are exposed to the patient’s body fluids, blood, and they may use needles that might be contaminated with several types of infectious pathogens. This may increase the risk of acquiring infections. Consequently, knowledge and compliance with standard precautions among nurses are important to reduce the incidence of those secondary infections.Objective: The aim of the study was to determine the level of awareness and the extent of practice pertaining to standard precautions for infection control among nurses. Relationship between awareness and infection control practice was also investigated as the predictors of infection control practices.Methods: Institutional based cross sectional quantitative study was conducted in a Medical college in Kolkata, India to assess knowledge and practice of standard precautions against blood borne pathogens among nurses from March 2020 to June 2020. The study was conducted as complete enumeration method among 545 nurses. A pre-designed, pretested questionnaire was used in this study. SPSS16 was used for data analysis.Results: Nearly one fourth (23.9 %) of the respondents did not know that inadvertent needle stick injury causes transmission of diseases. 17.2% had experienced needle stick injury during their entire service period of which nearly one fourth participants (23.4 %) had taken post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP). Around 80% (79.7%) of nurses practised satisfactory precautions