Assessment of Critical Care Nurses Compliance with Standard Precautions of Infection Control: A Quantitative Cross-Sectional Study at MMC Mardan

Abstract

Background: Critical care units like CCU, MICU, SICU, and NICU where patients are more vulnerable Healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) continue to be a significant challenge. For the safety of patients and healthcare worker it is very crucial to stop spread of infection, therefore, it is necessary to follow infection prevention rules. But nurses in countries like Pakistan which are still developing standards don't always follow these safety rules. Objective: This study aimed to assess the level of compliance with standard precautions among critical care nurses at Mardan Medical Complex (MMC), Mardan. Methods: Quantitative cross-sectional study was done with 57 nurses working in critical care units (MICU, SICU, NICU, and CCU) at MMC Mardan. Total population technique was used. Self-administered modified questionnaire based on compliance with Standard Precautions Scale (CSPS) were used to collect data. SPSS version 27 was used for analysis, inclusive of descriptive statistic and independent sample t test to assess association between attending training and how well nurses follow the rules. Results: The results showed that most nurses followed the rules at a medium level (49.12%), some followed them at a low level (35.08%), and just a small number (15.78%) followed them at a high level. Good habits were noticed in washing hands (59.6%), wearing gloves (63.2%), and throwing away sharp items properly (68.4%). However, unsafe actions like putting the needle cap back on (52.6%) and not properly throwing away sharp objects were still common. There was no meaningful connection between going to infection control training and how well the rules were followed (p = 0.41). Conclusion: While some aspects of standard precaution are followed very well, their overall (critical care nurses) compliance were moderate. Therefore, Proper education, institutional support, behavioural changes, and continuous monitoring is mandatory for adherence to standard precaution and reduction of HAIs.