[01] Ojewole Foluso, School of Nursing, Adult Health Department, Babcock University Ilishan, Ogun State, Nigeria. [02] Ibezim Sandra Makuochi, School of Nursing, Adult Health Department, Babcock University Ilishan, Ogun State, Nigeria.

Compliance refers to the extent to which health care workers follow the rules, regulations and recommendations of Standard Precautions (SP) and Infection Control (IC). The widespread inability of health care workers in developing countries to implement SP necessary for protecting themselves frequently has devastating consequences. Therefore, this study examined nurses and midwives compliance with standard precautions in Olabisi Onabanjo University Teaching Hospital (OOUTH). A descriptive survey research design was used for the study. The population consisted of all nurses and midwives in the selected health center. 154 nurses and midwives were randomly selected for the study. The outcomes of this study revealed that 96.1% of the respondents complied to hand hygiene and use of personal protective equipments (PPE), while personal (53.7%) and institutional (81.6%) factors were found to influence the practice of standard precautions among nurses and midwives. Also, 79.8 percent of the nurses and midwives adhered strictly to the use of the standard precautions of hand washing. The study further revealed a significant association between compliance with standard precautions and availability of PPE (r = .195, p = .017). The findings further revealed no significant association between compliance with standard precautions and nurses years of experience (r = .048, p = .017). It was concluded that nurses as the forefront professional in the healthcare systems are responsible for controlling nosocomial infection through adequate practice. Therefore, regular education and training programs for nurses and midwives on compliance with standard precaution should be organized in the hospitals and school of nursing within Ogun State. Hospital policy and procedures should address the need for nurses to observe standard precautions on all patients, regardless of knowledge about their infection status, Lastly hospital management should ensure the adequate provision of standard PPE materials necessary for compliance with SP.

Nurses, Midwives, Compliance Level, Standard Precautions, Health Status

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