Abstract :
Introduction: Universal precautions (UPs) are safety norms for the health care workers (HCW) against the
infections that are being carried by the patients they handle. All HCW must follow these in order to keep
them uninfected from various infectious diseases. Taking this into concern whether the presently employed
nursing staff is aware of the universal precautions or not, the present study was conducted with the aim to
assess their knowledge regarding this.
Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional observational study was conducted in a Tertiary Care
Hospital. 100 participants were drawn from the total population using randomization method. A structured
questionnaire was designed. It included three parts; socio-demographic data, questions to assess the level
of knowledge and compliance of nurses towards UPs. For data analysis, descriptive statistics in the form
of frequencies and percentages was used.
Conclusion: There was adequate knowledge and compliance among nurses towards UPs. Specific training
programs may have to target health care workers to establish acceptance of appropriate practices that will
enable them to adopt and adhere to UPs.
Results: All the participants were females with mean age of 30.5307.07 years and work experience of
7.336.34 years. Only 1 of them has average knowledge score i.e. < 80> knowledge i.e. 80-87%. 41 have very good knowledge score i.e > 90%. The compliance rate for universal
precautions varies from 59-100 %. For certain variables, 14 out of 20 variables for compliance scored more
than 90% adherence. The study revealed that knowledge of UPs among nurses was adequate and their
compliance was also fair enough.
Keyword :
UPs, HCW, Nurses, Infectious diseases, Knowledge, Compliance.