KNOWLEDGE AND AWARENESS REGARDING HIV AMONG HEALTHCARE WORKERS IN THE OPERATING ROOM AT AYUB TEACHING HOSPITAL, ABBOTTABAD

Abstract

HIV/AIDS is an urgent public health issue on the international scale and healthcare workers find themselves at a very high risk of also because of occupational exposure. In Pakistan, especially in operating rooms, knowledge, attitudes and practices (KAP) gaps can lead to a compromised treatment and safety of the staff and their patients. This was to determine the KAP of HIV/AIDS among health workers at Ayub Teaching hospital at Abbottabad and to determine factors that affect safe practices and stigma. The method was a cross-sectional one, and a sample of 150 operating room healthcare workers was taken, consisting of surgeons and anesthetists, nurses and OT technicians. A structured questionnaire that addressed demographic features, HIV transmission and prevention knowledge, perception toward PLHIV, and professional behaviors were used in gathering data. Statistical analyses were performed to include descriptive statistics, chi-square tests, t-tests and logistic regression in order to determine correlations between characteristics of the participants and KAP result. Results showed that participants were moderately knowledgeable about the main routes of HIV transmission, with 90% proving significant with blood transfusion, 86.7% sexual transmission and 83.3% mother to child transmission. Misinformation continued on casual contact, bite of the mosquitoes, and recapping needles whereas only 78.7% state that they knowledge on post exposure prophylaxis. Attitudinally, the majority of the respondents stated in support of equal care of PLHIV, inclusion of affected children in schools, but 53.3% included fears of being exposed to the infection via occupation, and 40% said that key populations were the/her drivers of transmission. The practice behaviors were not entirely effective in that blood spill disinfection penetrated at a high rate (93.3%) though the use of gloves and handling needles were inconsistent (66.7% and 66.7% respectively). Regression analysis showed that safer practices depended on HIV training and the desire to help HIV-positive patients. To sum up, healthcare workers showed reasonable knowledge and positive attitudes, yet there are gaps in practice and ongoing stigma, which makes it necessary to implement specific training and stigma-reduction interventions to guarantee the occupational safety and the high level of care provided to PLHIV.

Keywords:   HIV/AIDS, healthcare workers, knowledge, attitudes, practices, occupational safety, stigma, operating room, Pakistan, post-exposure prophylaxis