Compliance of cleaning staff to standard precautions in hospital hygiene and affecting factors

Introduction: Healthcare Associated Infections (HAIs) are infections that develop during the provision of care or healthcare services to the patient in a healthcare institution and are not present or are not in the incubation period at the time of admission to that institution. The frequency of HAIs varies in the world and in our country. All healthcare institutions should take standardized measures to control these infections. Hygienic practices of hospital cleaning staff have an important role in the prevention of person-to-person and environmental transmission. This study was conducted to evaluate the compliance of cleaning staff of Muğla Training and Research Hospital with standard precautions in hospital hygiene and the factors affecting them. Methods: In this cross-sectional study, the population consisted of the cleaning staff of Muğla Training and Research Hospital. The sample was not selected, 85.3% (n:257) of the population was reached. The questionnaire form includes questions on sociodemographic characteristics, working conditions, hygiene education and the Standard Precautions Scale of Hospital Hygiene: Version of Cleaning Staff (HHSP). The questionnaire form was administered between September 29 and October 17, 2023 using the self-completion method. Descriptive statistics were given as number and percentage, mean and standard deviation. The data were evaluated for conformity to normal distribution using the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test. In the analysis of the data, Independent groups t test, One-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) and Pearson test were used. The limit of significance was accepted as p<0.05. Results: The mean age of the participants was 41.5±9.4 years, 63.8% were female. The participants' working time as cleaning staff was 10.4±7.5 years, the weekly working time was 50.7±7.9 hours, and 81.7% worked in very high and high risk areas. Of the participants, 86.0% stated that they received regular training, 35.0% of those who received regular training stated that they received training once a year and 85.4% stated that the hygiene training they received was sufficient. HHSP total mean score was 89.0±6.6, and mean scores for subscales were as follows: hand hygiene 9.8±0.7, general cleaning 14.5±1.0, compliance with personal precautions 14.0±1.9, use of personal protective equipment 26.8±3.7, waste management 23.9±1.8. Conclusion: The compliance of cleaning staff with standard precautions in hospital hygiene was found to be high. It can be said as the most important result of the study that those who received regular training on hospital hygiene during their employment had higher compliance with standard precautions related to hospital hygiene. It should be aimed to ensure full compliance of cleaning staff with standard precautions, and training programs should be planned accordingly. Participation of all cleaning staff, especially those working in high risk areas, should be ensured, and deficiencies should be identified and completed by receiving feedback on the training.