Healthcare-associated Infection in Neonatal Intensive Care Units: What is the Role of Nurses’ Knowledge and Practice?

Background: Healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) constitute a global health problem. It is considered one of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality, with a longer duration of hospital stay. Knowledge and practice of healthcare workers are two pillars of infection control. Aim: To assess the knowledge and practice of NICU nursing staff regarding infection control measures. Methods: This is a descriptive cross-sectional study that included 100 nurses from the working staff inside the neonatal intensive care units in 3 Egyptian hospitals. We used a self-administered questionnaire to detect the level of knowledge of nurses regarding infection control, and an observational checklist to help accurate judgment of their real practice. A scoring system was developed and a score of less than 65% was considered an inadequate practice. Results: The mean knowledge score was 105.5 ± 7.38 points, where 67% of the participants had a satisfactory level of knowledge while; the mean practice score was 37.56 ± 1.98 points, where 40% of the participants had a satisfactory practice level. There was a significant positive correlation between the knowledge of the studied sample and their practice in regard to infection control measures. The unavailability of suitable equipment was the most frequent barrier that hinders following instructions of infection control measures inside the NICU (98%) followed by a shortage of nurses (74%) and overwhelming tasks (72%). Conclusion: Nurses had unsatisfactory practice despite their satisfactory knowledge. The main barrier was the shortage of the proper equipments followed by the overwhelming tasks.