Abstract:
Introduction: Hospital Acquired Infections contributed major causes of death, and
morbidity among healthcare workers and patients worldwide. Health professionals are
often exposed to various hospital acquired infections during the course of
carrying out their professional activities. Therefore health professionals should have
sound knowledge and strict adherence to infection control practice.
Objectives: To assess knowledge, preventive practice and associated factors on
Hospital Acquired Infections among health professionals working in university of Gondar
hospital Northwest, Ethiopia
Methods: A hospital-based cross sectional study was conducted among 423 health
professionals from February to June 2017. Stratified random sampling technique was
used as basic sampling scheme; and simple random sampling was employed to select
each participants. Data was collected using self-administered structured questionnaires
for knowledge and standardized observational checklist for practice. Logistic regression
was used to determine association between factors, and knowledge and practice of
hospital acquired infections. Variables with p-value less than 0.05 were considered
statically significant. Odds Ratio with its 95% confidence level was used to estimate the
strength of association.
Results: A total of 391 health professionals with a response rate of 92.4% were
participated in the study. Overall proportion of knowledge and prevention practice of
health professionals on hospital acquired infections were 68.5%
Conclusion and recommendation: Overall proportions of knowledge and prevention
practice of health professionals on hospital acquired infections were low and poor
respectively. Type of profession and working experience in years were significant with
knowledge; whereas age of professionals’ ?29, 30 – 39 years and type of profession
were showed statistical significance with preventive practice on hospital acquired
infection preventions. Therefore, employing more experienced professionals in the
hospital should get special attention.
Keywords: Hospital acquired Infections, knowledge, preventive practice, University of
Gondar comprehensive specialized hospital.
