Knowledge and practices of infection prevention among healthcare workers during the COVID 19 pandemic: a descriptive cross-sectional study

Abstract BackgroundEmergence of the COVID-19 pandemic created unexpected challenges for health care workers. The global and national supply chain system was disrupted, and affected infection, prevention and control practices. This study aimed at documenting health workers knowledge, attitudes and practices (KAP) on IPC in Nigeria during the COVID-19 pandemic. MethodsThe descriptive, mixed-methods cross-sectional study was conducted in Ebonyi, Ondo and Niger states in October 2020. A structured questionnaire that asked healthcare providers about their current knowledge, attitudes and practices and changes among them following the start of the pandemic was complemented by semi-structured interviews that were audio recorded, transcribed and analysed in Atlas.ti. Quantitative data were entered into REDCap and cleaned, transformed and analysed using descriptive statistics in SPSS version 25.0 Findings from the qualitative interviews were used to explain the trends observed from quantitative study.ResultsThere were demographic differences between community and facility-based health workers in our population. CHIPS that agreed to have not attended IPC training were 54.9% and 71.4% for HCWs, compared to those that attended IPC training during COVID-19 pandemic (CHIPS – 62.8%, HCWs – 53.4%). Health care workers had good knowledge of general IPC, attitude and practice of IPC during COVID-19 pandemic. However, the knowledge of the relative effectiveness of prevention measures was low. The mean knowledge scores were greater among facility-based workers compared to community based healthcare workers (p= 0.001). Self-reported IPC practices increased during the pandemic compared to prior to the pandemic, with the exception of the use of N-95 masks and hand sanitizer.ConclusionThis study found good general IPC knowledge and practices in our study population. There is need for continued support for correct hand hygiene, and to reinforce the relative importance of different IPC practices to ensure adherence to COVID-19 preventive measures. The study recommends sustained training and supply of PPEs and other materials needed for IPC reminds policy makers that budget line specific to COVID-19 response across all the levels of health