THE ROLE OF NURSES IN PREVENTION OF SURGICAL SITE INFECTIONS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF NIGERIA TEACHING HOSPITAL, ITUKU/OZALLA, ENUGU

Abstract

The study assessed the knowledge and practice of post-operative wound infection   prevention among nurses in the Surgical Units of University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital, Ituku/Ozalla, Enugu. The objectives of the study included to ascertain what nurses know about post-operative wound infections, assess nurses’ knowledge of factors  responsible for post operative wound infections and determine post operative wound  infection prevention practices adopted by nurses. Literature related to the study was  reviewed and the study anchored on Dorothy Orem’s self-care deficit theory. Cross-section descriptive survey research design was adopted with researcher designed questionnaire consisting of close-ended and response items in modified four point Likert  scale format used as instrument for data collection. The study population consisted of  174 nurses working at the Surgical Unit of the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital, Ituku-Ozalla, Enugu which was also used as the sample size of the  study. Data collected were analysed descriptively and presented in tables and charts. Findings revealed that  100% of the subjects have adequate knowledge about surgical site infections which majority, 87.1% rightly described as an infection that occurs after surgery in the part of the body where the surgery took place. Results further showed that majority of respondents identified age patients’ nutritional status is responsible for the development  of surgical site infection, cigarette smoking, prolonged hospitalization, medical underlying conditions, pre-operative shaving, transient micro-organisms, lengthy  operation and sterilization of instrument as factors responsible for the development of surgical site infections. It was also revealed that most of the respondents always clean their hands often with an alcohol-based products and perform appropriate surgical hand    scrubs, always perform surgical skin antisepsis using an appropriate technique and antiseptic, wear clean, facility laundered scrub attire, minimize operating room traffic, follow environmental cleaning, engage with a patient who has experienced a surgical site infection to develop prevention strategies, follow a surgical safety checklist, implement team training to promote a team-based approach to surgical site infection prevention, maximize use of steam sterilization, clean instruments thoroughly before sterilizing or  disinfecting as well as speak up whenever a break in sterile technique is witnessed and correct the break as soon as possible. Based on the findings, it was recommended that surgical team members should be encouraged to emphasize the importance of following latest evidence-based practices of infection control in continuing education / training programs.