Abstract:
Background: Standard precautions are means of reducing the risk of transmission of blood
borne and other pathogens from both recognized and unrecognized sources. Despite differences
in knowledge, attitude, practice, and institutional factors, healthcare professionals practice
standard precautions in a variety of settings.
Objective: The aim of this study was to assess the practices of standard precautions of health
care professionals working at the pediatric wards of Jimma University Medical Center.
Method: Facility-based cross-sectional study design was used. A survey of total of 205
healthcare professionals working in pediatrics department was included and 20 healthcare
professionals were selected by stratified random sampling for hand hygiene observation. Data
was collected via a structured self-administered questionnaire developed after reviewing
literatures on practice of standard precautions and observation was undertaken for hand hygiene.
Results: Overall, 49.8% (n=102) of respondents had reported good practice on safety precaution
while 35.7% for observed practice on Hand hygiene. Odds of good practice on safety precaution
were 5.5 times higher among age 36 and above compared to those 25 and below [AOR=5.5, 95%
CI: 1.24-24.1 p=.025]. The odds of good practice on safety precaution was 3.3 times higher
among nurses compared to pediatricians [AOR=3.35, 95%CI: 1.16-9.69, p=0.026]. Those health
workers who had work experience over five years were likely to practice good on safety
precaution compared to health worker who had served for two years and below [AOR=1.9,95%
CI: (0.01-9.01), p=0.033].
Conclusions: Based on the study results, it was found that the practices of healthcare
professionals with respect to standard precaution were poor/unsatisfactory. These gaps in
pediatrics department should be addressed through training, and strict implementation of national
guidelines of infection prevention and control policy and institutional infection prevention
standard
