Assessment on knowledge and practice of postexposure prophylaxis of human immuno-deficiency virus among staff nurses and paramedical workers at a tertiary care hospital in South India

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: Adequate knowledge about the presence of postexposure prophylaxis (PEP) against human immuno-deficiency virus (HIV) is imperative for health-care workers. This study focuses on the evaluation of the present knowledge and practice of nurses and paramedical workers on the post exposure prophylaxis against HIV. AIM: The aim of this study is to assess and compare the knowledge and practice of PEP against HIV among Staff Nurses and Paramedical workers. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: A descriptive cross-sectional questionnaire study about the knowledge and practice of PEP against HIV among Staff nurses and Paramedical workers done at a tertiary care hospital in South India. The analysis of the data was performed using SPSS software version 24. The statistical tests used to compare the knowledge between nurses and paramedical workers was Chi-square test. P < 0.05 was considered statistically significant. RESULTS: About 339 nurses and 66 paramedical workers participated in the study. An overall of 65.4% of the study participants had a good level of knowledge, higher (P = 0.000) among nurses (71.1%) compared to paramedical workers (36.3%). However, only 23% of nurses and 14.3% of paramedical workers received PEP after a needle prick injury. CONCLUSION: This study revealed a low-level practice of HIV PEP among staff nurses and paramedical workers despite their good knowledge. This can be improved by providing formal training sessions to the health care workers.