KNOWLEDGE, ATTITUDES AND PRACTICES OF NURSES IN INFECTION PREVENTION AND CONTROL WITHIN A TERTIARY HOSPITAL IN MULTAN

Nurses are health care professionals whose duty it is to protect patients from acquiring infections while hospitalized or while in a health care setup. By maintaining an infection-free environment, the patient’s recovery will be promoted and high-quality nursing care will be delivered. Aims and Objectives: The aim of the study was to determine the knowledge, attitudes, and practices of nurses regarding infection prevention and control. Material and Methods: A quantitative descriptive study was conducted at a tertiary hospital in Multan. Stratified random sampling was performed. Result and Conclusion: A total of n= 196 nurses of all categories were recruited in the study. Most of the participants were female; 84.7% (n= 166) while 15.3 % (n= 30) were male. The majority of participants had good knowledge of infection prevention and control with the mean score of 83.21. The attitude towards infection prevention and control was good with a mean score of 81.37. The practice in infection prevention and control was poor with a mean score of 48.88. Based on the findings of the current study, it can be concluded that, despite performing well in knowledge and showing a positive attitude towards infection prevention and control, nurses had unsatisfactory practice levels regarding infection prevention and control, exposing the pat1ients to infection-related diseases.