Abstract:

Infection prevention and control is an important topic in the delivery of quality health care because it aims at protecting the patient, the health worker, and the general public. The main objective of the study was to determine health workers’ compliance with Infection Prevention and Control policy guidelines during health care delivery. A cross-sectional design using a quantitative method was used to carry out this study in which 143 health workers at the La General Hospital were selected using a stratified sampling method. The data collected using a structured questionnaire was statistically analyzed using chi-square test and logistic regression to establish an association between the dependent and independent variables using a significance level of p<0.05 at 95% Confidence Interval. The results indicated that knowledge of Infection Prevention and Control among health workers was high as 97% had adequate knowledge, with 64% of this proportion having excellent knowledge. Additionally, the availability of infection prevention resources to health workers always was 31.4%; non-compliance due to time constraints at work was 66.4%, and compliance with Infection Prevention and Control guidelines was 30.7%. Time constraint at work was significantly associated with health workers’ compliance with Infection Prevention and Control (p = 0.001). The paper suggests that regular in-service training on Infection Prevention and Control must be continued to improve the standards of health delivery practice. Management is encouraged to improve the availability of Infection Prevention resources to health workers and to duly regulate staff workload in order to reduce time constraints and prevent burnout.

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