Compliance with universal precautions among critical care nurses: observation versus self-reporting

This study was performed on a sample of 20 nurses to examine critical care nurses' compliance with universal precautions [UPs] by direct observation and self-reporting. The observation was followed by self- reporting of the use of UPs methods of auditing compliance with UPs. The findings indicated that the self-reported compliance scores, as obtained from the participants, were higher than the observed compliance scores and the differences were statistically significant. The nurses significantly overestimated their actions in the self- reporting of the use of UPs