A cross sectional study on adoption of standard precautions among sanitary workers, Tamil Nadu
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.18203/2394-6040.ijcmph20191068Keywords:
Standard precautions, Sanitary workers, Needle stick injuryAbstract
Background: Hospital waste is a potential reservoir of pathogenic micro-organism and requires appropriate, safe handling. Sanitary workers entail to do waste collection, handling, storage and disposal. Hence they have higher chances of exposure to numerous risk factors. The objective of the study was to assess the adoption of ‘standard precautions’ among sanitary workers pertaining to hand hygiene, use of personal protective equipment (PPE), prevention of needle stick/sharp injuries, handling of soiled linen and finding out the reasons for non-adoption.
Methods: A cross sectional study was done in two health care institutions in Chennai and Madurai, Tamil Nadu during January to May 2018. Institutional ethics committee approval was obtained. All sanitary workers willing to participate in the study were included. After getting informed consent, data was collected using structured questionnaire and analyzed with SPSS 20.0. Mean, frequency and percentages were calculated.
Results: Sanitary workers included in the study were 118. The overall hand hygiene was satisfactory among 35.6%. Only 62.7% were using gloves while handling waste. 54(45.8%) had NSI in last one year. Immersing soiled linen in hot water was done only by 15 (12.7%) before washing with disinfectant and autoclaving.
Conclusions: The adoption of ‘standard precautions’ among sanitary workers is inadequate due to lack of proper orientation.
References
World Health Organization: Practical Guidelines for Infection Control in Health Care Facilities. SEARO and WPRO Publication No. 41; 2004.
CDC: workbook for designing, implementing and evaluating a sharps injury prevention program. Available at: https://www.cdc.gov/sharpssafety /pdf/sharpsworkbook_2008.pdf Accessed on 1 February 2019.
Archanalakshmi PA, Stanly M, Paul CM. Adoption of hand hygiene practices among health care providers. Int J Res Med Sci. 2015;3:2807-9.
Ravichandran H, Brundha MP. Awareness about Personal Protective Equipments in Hospital Workers (Sweepers and Cleaners). Res Int J Pharm Sci Rev Res. 2016;7:28-9.
Rapiti E, Prüss-Üstün A, Hutin Y. Sharps injuries: assessing the burden of disease from sharps injuries to health-care workers at national and local levels. Geneva, World Health Organization. WHO Environmental Burden of Disease Series, 2005: 11.
Chahar P, Mohanty VR, Aswini YB, Yadav V, Grover S. Needle stick injury reporting behavior and risk perception among sanitation staff in tertiary care hospitals in Delhi. Int J Adv Res. 2010;4(9):1943-8
Radha R, Khan A. Epidemiology of Needle Sticks Injuries among The Health Care Workers of A Rural Tertiary Care Hospital-A CrossSectional Study. Natl J Community Med. 2012;3(4):589-94.
Archana LPA, Ashrof R, Meriton SA, Christina MP, Gladius JH. A cross sectional study on needle stick and sharp injuries among health care providers in tertiary centers, Tamil Nadu. Int J Community Med Public Health. 2018;5:982-6.
