Standard Precautions and Hepatitis B Virus Vaccination among Doctors and Clinical Students in a Nigerian Tertiary Hospital: Data from a Pre-COVID Era.

Background: Adherence to standard precautions in hospitals is vital to control the spread of hospital-acquired infections (HAIs).

Objective: To determine the level of compliance to standard precautionary measures by clinical students and doctors in a Nigerian tertiary hospital to curb spread of infectious diseases, with focus on uptake of Hepatitis B Virus (HBV) vaccine.

Methods: This study which involved 228 participants used self-administered questionnaire to obtain data on respondents' biodata, history of exposure to patient's body fluids (PBF) in the last six months, HBV vaccination status, use and recapping of needles, handwashing, and use of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE). Data analysis was done using SPSS version18; associations were tested with Chi-square statistics, and p<0.05 was considered significant.

Results: Of the 228 respondents, 113(49.6%) were clinical students and 115 (50.4%) doctors with mean age of 27.61±7.48 years. A total of 140 (61.4%) respondents had been exposed to PBF: [89 (63.6%) doctors, 51(36.4%) students]. Age, student/doctor category, and number of years of practice all affected exposure to PBF (p<0.05). Recapping of needles was practiced by 167 (73.2%); hand-washing by 225 (98.7%), and lack of running water was the commonest reason for non-compliance. Also, 218 (95.6%) and 123 (53.9%) wore handgloves and face-masks respectively when attending to patients while 111 (48.7%) received at least a dose of HBV vaccine: [72 (64.9%) doctors, 39 (35.1%) students; p<0.05] but only 60.3% completed their doses.

Conclusion: Majority had good hand-washing practice, but only about half wore face-masks while working, and recapping of needles was prominent. Doctors had more occupational exposure to PBF but received more HBV vaccine although many were yet to complete their doses. With COVID-19 added to existing list of HAIs, there is need to scale-up compliance to infection control practices through sustained training programs and better health policies which would also drive vaccine coverage in this population.