KNOWLEDGE, ATTITUDE AND PRACTICE OF INJECTION SAFETY AMONG NURSES IN EDO STATE UNIVERSITY TEACHING HOSPITAL AUCHI

Exposure to blood borne viruses, by health care workers has been on the increase with health workers mostly affected. These exposures constitute serious challenges in the health care setting as they are common causes of illness and mortality among health care workers including hospitalized patients. Practice of standard precautions such as injection safety has been shown to reduce the risk of exposure to blood and body fluids. This study was conducted to assess the knowledge, attitude and practice of injection xiiisafety among nurses in Edo State University Teaching Hospital, Auchi using a descriptive research design. The specific objectives were to assess the level of knowledge of nurses about injection safety, assess injection safety practices and identify the barriers to injection safety practices among nurses in Auchi, Edo state. Simple random sampling was used to select hundred (100) nurses in Edo State University Teaching Hospital Auchi. A questionnaire was used to elicit information. Frequency and percentages were used for descriptive data were analyzed using Descriptive statistical package for social sciences version (20.0). Result revealed that 65.0% of the respondents had good knowledge of injection safety and 85% had good practice of injection safety while 20% had poor practice. Barriers to injection safety practices included inadequate supply of injection safety material, none display of injection safety guidelines. Statistical analysis revealed a significant relationship between level of knowledge and practice of injection safety among nurses. The researcher recommended that health care administrators and nurse leaders should display injection safety guidelines, supply injection safety materials and ensure that more nurses are recruited into the workforce.