[Effect of education on nurses' knowledge and performance regarding AIDS in emergency departments of hospitals affliated to Shiraz university of medical sciences [SUMS]]

Emergency department personnel are at a great risk of exposure to blood-borne pathogens such as Hepatitis B virus [HBV] and human immunodeficiency virus /AIDS because of their frequent contacts with blood, unknown status of patients and performing invasive procedures. However, studies have shown that Emergency Department [ED] personnel have a very low rate of compliance with universal precautions [UP]. The present study was designed to examine the effect of education on knowledge and performance of nurses regarding AIDS in emergency departments of hospitals affiliated to Shiraz university of medical science in 2008. A quasi-experimental study was conducted with a sample of 120 licensee nurses drawn from emergency departments [12 wards] of hospitals affliated to Shiraz University of Medical sciences including hospitals of Nemazi, Martyr Faghihi, and Chamran. The intervention was .three one-day training workshops presenting through lectures and group discussion methods. A self-constructed questionnaire was used to assess nurses' knowledge, in three occasions: three months prior to intervention, immediately after and one month after the intervention. Compliance with UP was measured through observation which was recorded by 10 items. One-way analysis of variance and paired /-test was used to assess nurses' knowledge. To compare differences between their compliance and performance of UP, Wilcoxon signed ranks test, one-way analysis of variance and paired t-test were used. It was revealed that knowledge of personnel significantly increased immediately and one months after the intervention [p=0.0001]. Mean of nurses knowledge' scores increased from 44.95 +/- 6.62 before training to 57.09 +/- 9.14 immediately and 54.36 +/- 14.32 one month after education [p=0.0001]. Partcipants' compliance with universal precautions procedures after edcational workshops was significantly different with before [P=0.0001] in the way, rates of using gloves was improved from 71.6% to 98.3% and 75% to 99.1% for handwashing after taking care of patients, 53.3% to 83% for wearing mask, 78.3% to 87.5% for not using needle cutter. The training session significantly improved the nurses' knowledge and implementation of universal precautions in emergency departments. It is recommended to provide basic educational seminars and workshops on universal precautions for healthcare workers. Helathcare institutes should also supply materials needed to protect staffs against the risk of acquiring blood born infection in the course of providing health services to their patients