Compliance with Standard Precautions among Hospital Nurses in Ozamiz City, Philippines

Ozamiz City is the center for health and people from nearby places choose to access its health services because of the available amenities for life-threatening conditions. With the increasing incidence of infectious diseases, compliance of nurses with standard precautions (SP) is necessary to control healthcare-associated infections. This study determined the compliance with SP of 100 nurses in two tertiary hospitals in Ozamiz City using a structured questionnaire that passed the Cronbach’s alpha reliability test. The study utilized the Kruskal-Wallis H test, Mann-Whitney U test, and Pearson’s correlation statistical models. Findings revealed a very high compliance among nurses in 82.6% of the SP. Older and male nurses assigned to pedia ward with more years of work experience and attended SP training exhibited better compliance to SP. Nurses who experienced needlestick injury, not exposed to patient’s body fluids, and vaccinated with the hepatitis B virus also showed better compliance. The difference in compliance among nurses when grouped by profile was not statistically significant (p<0.05). The correlation between knowledge and compliance was not also significant. The findings could help the administrators identify areas for improvement in nosocomial infection control in hospitals in this part of Mindanao.