Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2016 Jun 20:24:148.
doi: 10.11604/pamj.2016.24.148.9270. eCollection 2016.

Health professionals' knowledge about relative prevalence of hospital-acquired infections in Delta State of Nigeria

Angus Nnamdi Oli  1 , Kelechi Christian Okoli  1 , Nonye Treasure Ujam  1 , Dave Ufuoma Adje  2 , Ifeanyi Ezeobi  3
Affiliations

Health professionals' knowledge about relative prevalence of hospital-acquired infections in Delta State of Nigeria

Angus Nnamdi Oli et al. Pan Afr Med J. .

Abstract

Introduction: Hospital-acquired infections (HAIs) constitute a serious global public health challenge, causing great suffering to many people across the globe at any given time. This study ascertains the knowledge of health professionals on the challenge and their compliance with infection control measures.

Methods: Validated questionnaires were administered to 660 health professionals and supported with face-to-face interview. Data were analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 16.0 (SPSS Inc, USA). Chi-square was used to test association between the independent and the outcome variables. Cut-off point for statistical significance was 5% (p value<0.05).

Results: UTIs (61.4%) followed by Hospital-acquired Pneumonia (55.6%) were known to be the most prevalent HAIs in government hospitals while Staphylococcus aureus (54.4%) was reported the most microbial agent. In private health facilities, Hospital-acquired Pneumonia was known to be the most common (66.1%) while Pseudomonas aeruginosa was the most reported culprit. HAIs were reported to have occurred more in government hospitals and catheterization was the commonest modes of transmission in both health facilities.

Conclusion: The prevalence of HAIs in this state was reported to be high. Although health-care professionals have good knowledge of HAIs, active effort is not always made to identify and resolve them. Standardized surveillance of HAIs is urgently needed.

Keywords: Delta; Nosocomial infections; infections control; knowledge; prevalence.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. Collins AS. Preventing Health Care–Associated Infections. In: Hughes RG, editor. Patient Safety and Quality: An Evidence-Based Handbook for Nurses. Rockville (MD): Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (US); 2008. Chapter 4 Available from: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK2683/ - PubMed
    1. WHO Collaborating Centre for Patient Safety Solutions. Improved Hand Hygiene to Prevent Health Care-Associated Infections; Patient Safety Solutions | volume 1, solution 9 |. 2007 May; http://www.who.int/patientsafety/solutions/patientsafety/PS-Solution9.pdf Accessed on 15th Oct 2015.
    1. Kim R, Oh P, Simor A. The economic impact of methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus in Canadian Hospitals. Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology. 2001;22(2):99–105. - PubMed
    1. Pittet D, Hugonnet S, Harbarth S, Mourouga P, Sauvan V, Touveneau S, Perneger TV. Effectiveness of a hospital wide programme to improve compliance with hand hygiene. The Lancet. 2000 Oct 14;356(9238):1307–12. - PubMed
    1. Sax H, Hugonnet S, Harbarth S, Herrault P, Pittet D. Variation in nosocomial infection prevalence according to patient care setting:a hospital-wide survey. J Hosp Infect. 2001 May;48(1):27–32. - PubMed

MeSH terms

LinkOut - more resources