DefinePK

Abstract

Background: Healthcare-associated infections remain a global concern, and while standard precautions are universally acknowledged as the cornerstone of infection prevention, evidence shows that nurses’ adherence is often inadequate due to individual, organizational, and resource-related factors, necessitating focused investigation into the determinants of compliance.
Materials and Methods: A quantitative descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted over six months among 150 ICU nurses from Jinnah and Sheikh Zayed Hospitals, Lahore, selected through simple random sampling. The Influencing Practice of Standard Precautions Questionnaire was used to measure compliance-related factors among healthcare workers, and analyzed in SPSS 23 with descriptive statistics and chi-square tests.
Results: The study revealed that mean scores across all safety-related domains were high, ranging from 4.09 to 4.56 on a 5-point scale, indicating favorable perceptions among participants. Workload had the lowest mean score (M = 4.09 ± 0.60), making it the most influential factor on compliance, whereas protective behaviors (M = 4.56 ± 0.69) and protective knowledge (M = 4.49 ± 0.61) ranked highest, reflecting strong awareness and safe practices.
Conclusion: Overall, while healthcare workers demonstrated strong knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors toward standard precautions, addressing workload pressures and ensuring consistent access to protective resources are critical for optimizing compliance and sustaining infection prevention.