Infection control practices among health care providers in secondary health facility in calabar, Cross River State, Nigeria

It is common to discover that many patients admitted into the hospital for certain pathological or physiological disorders would end up manifesting one infectious disorder or another. Nosocomial infection is associated with increased morbidity and mortality and medical cost. This study was aimed at assessing knowledge and practice of standard infection control among health care providers in secondary health facility in Calabar, Cross River State, Nigeria. The study adopted a descriptive survey. A convenient sampling technique was used to select 132 health care providers who were willing to Participate in the study and also offer direct nursing care to patients. Instruments for data collection was a self developed questionnaire and observational checklist. Data was analyzed using descriptive statistics, while hypothesis was tested using chi-square x2 test analysis. Result revealed that 102 (77.3%) respondents had good knowledge and 98 (74.2%) respondents practiced infection control precaution. There was a significant association between health care providers’ knowledge of standard precautions and infection control, when the x2 calculated of 46.19 was greater than the x2 critical of 3.841. Based on the above, the researchers recommended regular programming of workshops and seminars on infection control practices for health care providers in the study area.