Knowledge, attitude and behavior of primary health care workers regarding health care-associated infections in Kuwait.

Background: Health care workers (HCWs) are at high-risk for acquiring health care-associated infections (HAIs) and transmission to their patients and close contacts. Objective: The aim of the present study is to study primary health care (PHC) workers’ knowledge, attitudes and behavior towards HAIs in Kuwait. Methods: This study was a cross-sectional survey that was conducted in all primary health centers located in two randomly selected health regions in Kuwait. An anonymous self-administered questionnaire was distributed to all currently working physician and nurses in the selected centers. Results: The majority of the participants were aware that a HCW can acquire HAIs from a patient, but less than 60.0% knew that a HCW can transmit these infections to a patient. physicians and nurses’ beliefs regarding various control measures of HAIs were more or less positive as 59.4% to 85.1% of them believed in these various measures. It is observed that proportions of physicians and nurses practicing infection control measurements were less than that reported when describing their positive attitude towards HAIs. Conclusions: HCWs in primary health care showed good knowledge and positive attitude, but poor practice regarding control measures against HAIs. They need health education campaigns to enhance understanding the importance of practicing control measure that they believed i