Infection Control Practices among Laboratory Healthcare Workers in an Urban Local Government Area of Lagos State, Nigeria

Abstract

Objective: Laboratory healthcare workers do handle a wide range of potentially dangerous materials which exposes them to numerous hazards. This study aimed to assess the practices of laboratory health care workers towards safety, infection control, and the associated factors to its practices. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 181 laboratory healthcare workers in all registered 33 laboratory facilities in Ikeja Local Government Area in 2017. Data were collected with pre-tested, structured self-administered questionnaires. Data were analyzed with SPSS version 20 and a p-value of < 0.05. Results: The mean age of respondents was 35.0 ± 2.45 years, most of whom were females (57.7%) and married (61.1%). The majority (98.9%) demonstrated good knowledge of infection control. A total of 62.3% identified hand washing as the most important infection control practice while HIV and Tuberculosis were diseases respondents majorly considered as high risk of contracting. A total of 84.6% of the respondents showed good practices. Limited availability of personal protective equipment in the laboratories was a major barrier identified by 98.1% of respondents. Respondents displayed good knowledge, attitude, and practice of infection control. Conclusion: The barrier to infection control was the limited availability of personal protective equipment. Therefore, concerted efforts should be mustered to ensure continuous training and retraining with the provision of personal protective equipment.