Nurses’ Knowledge and Practices on Surgical Site Infections in Sub-Saharan Africa: The Case of Buea Regional Hospital, South West Region in Cameroon

ABSTRACT: Surgical site infection is a major cause of mortality and morbidity worldwide, affecting 5.6% ofsurgical procedures overall in Low and Middle income Countries. This study sought to investigate nurses’knowledge on surgical site infections, determine nurses’ practices in the care and prevention of surgical siteinfections. A cross-sectional study was conducted. Forty nurses working at the Buea Regional Hospital (BRH)in Fako Division the Buea Health District, Cameroon participated in the study. A purposive sampling techniquewas used to select the study site, while the convenient sampling method was used to enrol eligible participants.A structured questionnaire was used to collect data. Data was entered into Epi Data Version 21.0 and wasanalysed using SPSS version 21.0.The results revealed that 65.0% knew what surgical site infection is, 100%approved the importance of preoperative counselling in the prevention of SSI and reported that patient hygieneis important in the prevention of SSIs. All nurses (100%) disapproved the use of lotions on surgical wounds.Few respondents (2.5%) had poor knowledge on practices in the care and prevention of SSI.

KEYWORDS: Knowlegde, practices, prevention, management, Surgical site infection