Knowledge on and Compliance with Standard Precautions among Medical Students in Jharkhand, India: A Cross-Sectional Study

Ankita Jawanpuria, Chinmaya Dash

Abstract


Objective: To assess the knowledge, attitude, and compliance with standard precautions among medical students in a tertiary care hospital in Jharkhand, India.

Methods: A total of 280 medical students, including phase I and phase II MBBS students, participated in the study. Phase I comprised an introduction to standard precautions in four-hour classes while the Phase II comprised of 8 hours of theory and three skill assessments on standard precautions according to the CBME curriculum and pandemic module. A structured validated questionnaire was used to collect data on the student's knowledge, attitude, and practice related to standard precautions. The questionnaire included items assessing various aspects of standard precautions, and scoring criteria were used to evaluate student performance. The overall level of knowledge, attitude, and practice was classified as poor (<50% score), moderate (50–79% score), and good (≥80% score).

Results: Among the phase I students, 32.8% got a good score. In contrast, in the phase II, 56.6% demonstrated good performance in adhering to standard precautions. The median total score was 68 (interquartile range 62-71) of 85, indicating a satisfactory level of understanding and compliance with standard precautions. However, areas such as needing to remove PPE before leaving the patient's environment and not recapping needles showed rooms for improvement.

Conclusion: Students showed good knowledge and compliance with standard precautions. Phase II students demonstrated a better understanding of standard precautions compared to their phase I counterparts. This highlights the positive impact of practical hands-on training as particularly emphasized in the phase II curriculum.


Keywords


Attitude, Infection control, Knowledge, Medical education, Medical students, Standard precautions

Full Text:

PDF

References


  1. Haque M, Sartelli M, McKimm J, Abu Bakar M. Health care-associated infections–an overview. Infect Drug Resist. 2018;11:2321–33. doi:10.2147/IDR.S177247
  2. WHO. Global report on infection prevention and control. Geneva: World Health Organization; 2022.
  3. Moralejo D, El Dib R, Prata RA, Barretti P, Corrêa I. Improving adherence to Standard Precautions for the control of health care-associated infections. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2018;2(2):CD010768. doi:10.1002/14651858.CD010768.pub2
  4. Ibrahim AA, Elshafie SS. Knowledge, awareness, and attitude regarding infection prevention and control among medical students: a call for educational intervention. Adv Med Educ Pract. 2016;7:505–10. doi: 10.2147/AMEP.S109830
  5. Saati AA, Alkalash SH. Promotion of knowledge, attitude, and practice among medical undergraduates regarding infection control measures during COVID-19 pandemic. Front Public Health. 2022;10:932465. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2022.932465
  6. Souza-Borges FR, Ribeiro LA, Oliveira LC. Occupational exposures to body fluids and behaviors regarding their prevention and post-exposure among medical and nursing students at a Brazilian public university. Rev Inst Med Trop Sao Paulo. 2014;56(2):157–63. doi: 10.1590/S0036-46652014000200012
  7. Ankita B, Ipsa M. First year medical students’ and standard precautions: The need for change. Clin Epidemiol Glob Health. 2021;9:221–6. doi: 10.1016/j.cegh.2020.09.002
  8. Standard Precautions for All Patient Care | Basics | Infection Control | CDC [Internet]. 2019 [cited 2023 Apr 13]. Available from: https://www.cdc.gov/infectioncontrol/basics/standard-precautions.html.
  9. Standard Precautions [Internet]. 2023 [cited 2023 Jun 8]. Available from: https://www.cdc.gov/oralhealth/infectioncontrol/summary-infection-prevention-practices/standard-precautions.html
  10. WHO. Standard precautions in health care. Geneva: World Health Organization; 2007. Available from: https://www.who.int/docs/default-source/documents/health-topics/standard-precautions-in-health-are.pdf?sfvrsn=7c453df0_2 from.




DOI: https://doi.org/10.15850/ijihs.v12.n2.3711

Article Metrics

Abstract view : 90 times
PDF - 21 times



 

This Journal indexed by

                   

 


Creative Commons License
IJIHS is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License



View My Stats