Knowledge and Practices Regarding Surgical Site Infection Prevention Among Nursing Staff at Kampala International University Teaching Hospital Bushenyi, Uganda

ABSTRACT Surgical site infections (SSIs) are infections related to an operative procedure that occurs at or near the surgical incision within 30 days after the surgery. The incidence of SSI Varies from hospital to hospital in different countries with developed countries having lower incidences ranging from 2% to 6.4%, and developing countries with higher incidence ranging from 5.5% to 25%.It is estimated that SSI develop in 2% to 5% of the more than 30 million patients who undergo surgical procedures representing 14% to 16% of all HAIs annually in USWHO (201l) estimated the burden of SSI in developing world where sub-Saharan Africa falls at 29%, Europe at 17%and USA at 20% of all patients undergoing surgical procedures. In East Africa, Tanzania leads the region with the burden of SSI estimated to be at 26% of all patients undergoing surgical procedures This was across sectional descriptive study and quantitative in nature. The main objective of this study was to examine the level of knowledge and practices regarding surgical site infection prevention among nursing staff at Kampala international university teaching hospital.it involved 33 respondents who were conveniently selected to participate in the sturdy. Results from this study indicated that an average of 16(48.5%) respondents had adequate knowledge on SSI infection prevention while an average of 17(51.5%) respondents had inadequate knowledge on SSI prevention. The study revealed that there was no positive relationship between knowledge and practice regarding surgical site infection prevention since respondents were found to have slightly higher knowledge but with less practice of the recommended precautions about surgical site infection prevention. In conclusion, basing on the findings of this sturdy, nurses have low level of knowledge about prevention of infection of surgical sites. The areas that registered extremely poor knowledge were areas of wound assessment, pre-operative showering, timing and importance of preoperative prophylactic antibiotics and correct diagnosis of surgical site infection. This sturdy also concludes that the level of practices of the recommended precautions as far as prevention of infection of surgical sites was low among nursing staff at KIU-TH. The areas that registered extremely poor practice included use of masks during wound care procedures, nutritional assessment (BMI) for surgical patients, and administration of preoperative prophylactic antibiotics, pre-operative shaving and use of separate sterile pressing pack for every patient during wound care.