Infection Prevention Practices and Associated Factors among Healthcare Workers (HCWs) in Hospitals of Harar, Town, Ethiopia.

Abstract Introduction: Infection prevention encompasses all policies, procedures, and activities designed to prevent or minimize the risk of infectious diseases being transmitted at healthcare facilities. To the best of the investigators' knowledge, no study has been done on infection prevention practices and related factors among healthcare professionals in the study region of Harar town, Eastern Ethiopia. As a result, this research will help close these gaps and define the extent of the issues. Method Institutional based cross-sectional study was conducted from June 7- July 7, 2023, among 268 healthcare workers hospitals of Harar town. The stratified random sampling method was used. To collect data self-administered questionnaires were used. The presence of associations between variables with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) was examined by performing bivariate analysis and multivariate logistic regressions. Variables with a P value less than 0.05 were considered significant. Result 268 Healthcare workers participated with a 95.03% response rate. from the total (57. 2%) of respondents had good knowledge about infection prevention practices. Knowledge (AOR = 2.6 (95% CI: 1.3–9.9), attitude (AOR = 1.97 (95% CI: 1.8–6.9)), having IPC guidelines (AOR = 1.99 (95% CI: 1.2–10.2), and training (AOR = 2.0 (95% CI: 1.21–8.6) were significantly associated with infection prevention practices. Conclusion According to this study, more than half of health care workers had good infection prevention practices. Variables such as knowledge, attitude, having IPC guidelines, and training was significant associated with infection prevention practices. Hospitals need to continuously train HCWs to improve their knowledge and practice regarding infection prevention activities.