Knowledge of health care-associated infections among Georgian obstetricians and gynecologists.

BACKGROUND Knowledge of health care associated infections (HAIs) and adherence to infection control precautions in medical institutions, including obstetrics and gynecological settings, is important to prevent the transmission of infections among health care workers and patients. This study evaluated the level of knowledge of Georgian obstetricians and gynecologists (OBGYN) in the field of HAIs and standard precautions. METHODOLOGY The survey was conducted in nine maternity hospitals. An interviewer-administered questionnaire was used and a summary knowledge score was created from 10 questions estimating awareness of health care workers (HCWs). An acceptable knowledge was arbitrarily determined to be correctly answering six or more questions. RESULTS The total number of surveyed HCWs was 433. Of these 49.2% were physicians and 50.8% were nurses. The data showed that 31.4% of HCWs had never received any educational intervention in the field of HAIs/safety precautions. By multivariate analysis factors related to knowledge score were age (HCWs > 35 years had higher scores), position (physicians had higher scores than nurses) and educational intervention on safety precautions. CONCLUSION This study demonstrates an acute need for educational interventions in the field of HAIs/safety precautions for HCWs in most OBGYN settings, particularly among nurses.