Assessment of infection control knowledge, attitude and practice among healthcare workers during the Hajj period of the Islamic year 1423 (2003)

• Published in: Scandinavian journal of infectious diseases Vol. 39; no. 11-12; pp. 1018 - 1024
• Main Authors: Ghabrah, Tawfik M., Madani, Tariq A., Albarrak, Ali M., Alhazmi, Mohammad A., Alazraqi, Tarik A., Alhudaithi, Mugbil A., Ishaq, Abdulrahman H.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Basingstoke Informa UK Ltd 2007; Taylor & Francis
• Subjects: Biological and medical sciences; Female; General aspects; Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; Health Surveys; Human infectious diseases. Experimental studies and models; Humans; Infection Control - standards; Infectious diseases; Islam; Male; Medical sciences; Nurses; Physicians; Saudi Arabia; Surveys and Questionnaires; Saudi Arabia; Asia; Prevention; Infection; Nosocomial infection; Attitude; Check; Health care staff; Knowledge
• ISSN: 0036-5548; 1651-1980
• DOI: 10.1080/00365540701466173

We assessed hospital infection control knowledge, attitude, and practice (KAP) of healthcare workers (HCWs) during the Hajj season of the Islamic y 1423 (2003). A self-administered structured questionnaire was used to collect the data. A total of 392 HCWs was studied, of whom 215 (54.8%) were nurses and 177 (45.2%) were doctors. 315 (80.4%) HCWs worked in hospitals, whereas 77 (19.6%) worked in primary healthcare centres. Of the 392 HCWs, 164 (41.8%) were from Makkah, and the remaining 228 (58.2%) were recruited from other regions in Saudi Arabia. A good proportion (81.8%) of HCWs correctly answered at least 5 of the 11 knowledge statements. However, obvious deficiency of knowledge appeared concerning other important hospital infection control measures. A smaller proportion (61.9%) of HCWs achieved a score of at least 4 out of 7 for attitude statements with unacceptable attitude for the remaining 3 areas. Response to questions concerning practice showed that nurses tended to be better than doctors (p-value =0.204), but both groups reported variable compliance to hospital infection control practices in terms of strict or near-strict adherence. In conclusion, training of HCWs is needed to improve KAP in infection control.