J Korean Acad Child Health Nurs.  2011 Oct;17(4):238-246.

Study on Pediatric Nurses' Attitudes and Compliance with Hospital Infection Standard Precautions

• Shin HY
• Kim KH
• Kim KS

Abstract

PURPOSE
The purpose of this study was to identify pediatric nurses' attitudes to, and compliance with, standard precautions in the prevention of hospital infections by enhancing their practice of standard precautions.
METHODS
The participants were 206 nurses who worked in pediatric nursing departments of a general medical institution in Seoul. The questionnaire was a modification of Kim (2008) and consisted of 18 questions about hand washing, personal protective equipment, sharps, linen and patient care equipment. Collected data were processed using SPSS 15.0 WIN.
RESULTS
Mean scores for attitudes to standard precautions and for compliance with standard precautions were 4.43 (+/-0.83) and 4.22 (+/-0.44) respectively. This difference was statistically significant (t=3.368, p=.001). The nurses' compliance with standard precautions differed significantly according to the general characteristics of age (F=8.705, p<.001), total clinical experience (F=9.426, p<.001), current department experience (F=6.555, p<.001), and education experience (t=0.616, p<.043). There was a positive correlation between attitudes to, and compliance with, standard precautions (r=.156, p=.025).
CONCLUSION
The results of this study indicate that educational programs and policy on infection control and standard precautions for pediatric nurses are needed. Also these results should contribute to baseline data for establishing appropriate clinical policy on infection control.

Keyword

Universal precaution; Infection control; Attitude; Compliance; Pediatric nursing

MeSH Terms

Bedding and Linens
Compliance
Cross Infection
Hand Disinfection
Humans
Infection Control
Patient Care
Pediatric Nursing
Universal Precautions
Child Health
Surveys and Questionnaires