Relationship Between Knowledge, Attitude, and Practice of Surgical Site Infection Prevention Among Operating Room Nurses in Guizhou Province, China

Abstract

This descriptive correlation study aimed to examine the level of knowledge, attitude, and practice of SSI prevention and the relationship between knowledge, attitude, and practice of SSI prevention among 999 operating room nurses working in 124 hospitals in Guizhou Province, China. Knowledge, attitude, and practice of SSI prevention were examined using a Knowledge Questionnaire, an Attitude Questionnaire, and a Practice Questionnaire, respectively. The English version questionnaires yielded the content validity index of .83, .89, and .94 for the Knowledge Questionnaire, the Attitude Questionnaire, and the Practice Questionnaire, respectively. The Kuder-Richardson formula 20 (KR-20) was used to test the reliability of the Knowledge Questionnaire. The Cronbach alpha internal reliability test was used for the Attitude Questionnaire and the Practice Questionnaires. The reliability of Knowledge, Attitude, and Practice Questionnaires were .72, .84, and .97, respectively. The descriptive statistics and Pearson product- moment correlation were used to analyze the data. The result illustrated that the operating room nurses' level of knowledge regarding SSI prevention was at a low level (M = 67.98%, SD ± 7.96%), the level of attitude regarding SSI prevention was positive (M=81.26%; SD ±7.55%), and the level of practice regarding SSI prevention was at a high level (M = 83.81%, SD + 13.50%). Results also showed that knowledge was positively related to attitude (r = .137, p < .01). A significant positive correlation between practice and attitude was found (r = .302, p < .01). However, there was no significant correlation between knowledge and practice (r = .058, p = .065). Therefore, knowledge of SSI prevention among operating room nurses should be improved to ensure better care of SSI prevention.