Assessment of Knowledge and Practices of Staff Nurses towards Infectious Diseases Isolation Precautions in Tertiary Care Hospitals: A Multi-Center Study

Background: Compliance with the evidence-based isolation precaution guidelines is
essential to prevent the spread of infectious diseases among hospitalized patients and its
ensuing complications. Objectives: This study aimed to assess the nurses' knowledge
towards the infectious diseases’ isolation precautions in governmental tertiary care
hospitals and to identify the relationship between nurse's characteristics concerning their
knowledge and practices. Method: A cross-sectional study was conducted in ten tertiary
care hospitals using a self-administrated questionnaire to collect nurses' characteristics and
to assess their knowledge level. Nurses' practices were evaluated using an observation
checklist Univariate, bivariate, and logistic regression analysis were applied. Results: The
study revealed that 35.8% of nurses had a good knowledge regarding isolation precautions
and 41.6% had good practices score. Some demographic variables inclined Nurses'
knowledge; age, gender, education, and experience. While their practice score was
affected by; gender, work experience, and unit of work (ICU vs. non- ICU). A statistically
significant positive correlation was revealed between the overall knowledge score and the
overall practice score of nurses regarding adherence to the infectious diseases isolation
precautions(r=0.3). Participants' education and duration of working experience were the
significant predictors for higher knowledge scores (p <0.05). Conclusion: The tailored
multi-modal training approach can improve nurses' knowledge and promote their
experiences towards isolation precautions.