Background: Healthcare associated infections (HCAI) are one of the most serious and complex worldwide health problems. Committment to standard precautions (SPs) and infection control (IC) measures are important to all healthcare providers (HCP) to prevent occupational exposure to hazardous materials.
Objectives: This study aimed at evaluating the knowledge, attitude and practices (KAP) towards IC measures amongst HCP at Umm AL Qura University Medical Center, Makkah, Saudi Arabia.
Subjects and methods: A cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted by using a pretested self-administered questionnaire. Convenience sampling was used, and the KAP scores of HCP towards IC measures were evaluated and correlated with their characteristics.
Results: The study included 54 HCP with mean age 32.4±7.8 years, half of them were female and 42.6 % of them received previous training/orientation on IC and SPs in different forms. Participants' good KAP scores concerning the various aspects of IC measures were slightly below average (46-48%). No significant differences between the overall mean KAP scores and different characteristics of participants, but significant correlations were observed between knowledge and both attitude and practices scores.
Conclusion: There was a gap between the actual and desired KAP of HCP regarding IC. Continuing education programs are needed to improve their KAP scores towards SPs and IC measures in order to reduce HCAI.