Infection Prevention and Control Practices among Staff Nurses in Hail, KSA: Basis for Improved Patient Safety

Aim: Hospital acquired infections are preventable with proper healthcare behavior among workers and strict compliance. This study aimed to determine the infection prevention and control practices by staff nurses. Methods: This study utilized the correlational approach in exploring the infection prevention and control practices among nurses in government hospitals in Ha'il region Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. There were 189 respondents resulting from convenience sampling. Descriptive statistics were used to represent the demographic profiles and scores of the participants while Spearman's rho was used to determine the significant relationship between the four (4) dimensions in IPC practice. Data gathering was conducted between November and December 2019. Results: The infection prevention and control guidance (89.96±10.74), healthcare associated infection associated infection (84.92±9.49), and built environment, material and equipment (86.23±12.03) were found to have an advanced level while infection control programme is intermediate in level (29.99±3.99). Meanwhile, a weak positive correlation on (r=0.191; p<.008) found in infection and control programmed and infection prevention; and IPC programmed level and built materials and equipment ( r = 0.16; p<.028). There is a medium level of correlation between the level of practice in Built materials and equipment (r =– 0.327). Conclusion: The four dimensions, the level of practice for the Infection Prevention and Control Programme is found to be Intermediate. Whereas, the other three dimensions, Infection Prevention and Control Guidelines, Healthcare-Associated Infections Surveillance, and Built Environment, Materials and Equipment for Infection Prevention and Control at the Hospital Level, showed an Advanced level of practice by the staff nurses. overall, the IPC level of practice among nurses is described to be Advanced. The IPC core components are fully implemented according to the WHO recommendations and appropriate to the needs of the facility.