Knowledge and practice of standard precautions among nursing students
During clinical training, lack of clinical experiences and skills predispose nursing students to higher risk of occupational exposure. Compliance of standard precautions among nursing students is important in protecting them from occupational exposure. The objective of this study was to assess th...
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| Format: | Final Year Project Report / IMRAD |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (UNIMAS)
2010
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/2191/ http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/2191/1/Cicely%20Khoo%20YW%20ft.pdf |
| Summary: | During clinical training, lack of clinical experiences and skills predispose nursing
students to higher risk of occupational exposure. Compliance of standard precautions
among nursing students is important in protecting them from occupational exposure.
The objective of this study was to assess the knowledge and practice of standard
precautions among nursing students. This study was using quantitative method which
used a 27 item self-administered questionnaire. The target group consisted of 65
UNIMAS undergraduate nursing students who already had clinical attachment
experience. Data from the questionnaire was analyzed by using Statistical Package
for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 17.0. In this study, overall level of knowledge
among UNIMAS nursing students was found low as no respondents scored at or
above equivalent of 80% of the maximum score and knowledge mean score achieved
by respondents was relatively low (4.80 out of 10.0). Highest score was attained for
knowledge of hand hygiene (87.7%) whereas low scores were achieved for
knowledge about disinfection and sterilization management (6.2%) and basic
concepts of standard precautions (16.9%). Overall level of practice of standard
precautions was unacceptable as only 50.8% of the respondents exhibited good
practice of standard precautions. Example of good practices were discard blood and
soiled dressings into clinical wastes (86.2%), discard used needles into sharp bin
immediately (78.5%) and wear gloves when doing peripheral vascular access
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procedures (78.5%) every time during clinical posting. Nursing students were found
to have poor practice in: wearing goggles (87.7%), calling for cleaner (72.3%) and
changing of gloves in between patient care (64.6%) every time in the clinical setting.
There were no significant differences among nursing students of different year of
study in their level of knowledge and practice of standard precautions (p>0.05). Level
of knowledge was not the significant predictor of level of practice of standard
precautions among nursing students. There are other factors that account for poor
practice of standard precautions. In conclusion, it is imperative that continuous
reinforcement on standard precautions’ concepts should be implemented throughout
the education training to improve knowledge and practice of standard precautions. |
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