Abstract:
Introduction: A sterile technique is a standard to reduce microorganism transmission during
surgery. Gap of knowledge and practice in sterile techniques of nurses are common cause of
surgical site infection for surgical patients. Even though due to lack of knowledge and practice
surgical site infection becomes a global problem, almost no study done in Ethiopia regarding
nurses' knowledge and practice of sterile techniques in the operation room.
Objective: To assess nurses’ knowledge, practice, and associated factors of sterile techniques
in operation rooms at public hospitals in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 2022.
Method: An institutional-based cross-sectional study was conducted on 423 operation room
nurses at public hospitals in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, from May 11 to June 26/2022. Simple
random sampling method was employed to select study participants. A pre-tested selfadministered
questionnaire
were
used
to
collect
data.
Data
were
entered by Epi-data version
4.6, analyzed by SPSS version 25 and descriptive statistics were presented by text, table, and
figure. Multivariable analysis was used to identify significant factors based on p-values <0.05,
and the strength of association of a particular variable was expressed by Adjusted Odds Ratio
(AOR) with a 95% confidence interval.
Result: The scores for nurses' good knowledge and practice regarding sterile techniques in the
operation room were 58.3% with 95% CI (53.2, 62.5) and 56.1% with 95% CI (51.5, 61.1)
respectively. Training [AOR=1.989; 95 %CI (1.120, 3.530)], availability of guideline
[AOR=6.4; 95CI (3.773, 10.856)] and supervision [AOR=2.963; 95%CI (1.693,
5.184)] were associated with nurses’ knowledge about sterile techniques in operation room.
Availability of guidelines [AOR=1.890, 95%CI (1.123, 3.182)] presence of supervision with
[AOR=4.732; 95%CI (2.643, 8.471)] and having good knowledge of sterile techniques
[AOR=5.419; 95%CI (3.087, 9.512)] were also associated with nurses’ practice of sterile
techniques in the operation room.
Conclusion and Recommendation: Operative theater nurse knowledge and practice of sterile
techniques were found inadequate. Training, supervision, availability of guidelines, and
knowledge of nurses towards sterile techniques are factors associated with sterile techniques
in the operation room. Developing guidelines and providing supervision for nurses are better
to enhance their knowledge and practice.
Keywords: Sterile Technique; Operation Room; Knowledge; Practice; Nurse: Ethiopia.
