Knowledge and practice of sterilization among different health care workers

ABSTRACT

Objective of the study was to assess the level of knowledge and awareness among different levels of healthcare workers about sterilization. A questionnaire was designed to obtain information about knowledge of sterilization among dental house officers, dental auxilliaries and other non teaching staff of different dental colleges of Karachi. The sample size of the study was 500. The questionnaires were filled in by dentists and dental auxiliaries. The was spread over 6 months. The questionnaire contained questions about socio-demographic data and knowledge about sterilization, wearing of gloves, masks, and sterilization protocol. Data were analyzed by SPSS statistical software. There were 12 questions in each questionnaire. The study group consisted of 182 [36.4%] male and 318 [63.6%] female. The majority of respondents included house officers, teaching and non teaching staff of different medical/ dental colleges of Karachi. Most of the dentists wore gloves while treating patients, 484 [98.6%] of respondents said that they always changed their gloves after each patient where as 11[2.2%] said they did sometimes