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ABSTRACT
Background: Healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) are a significant public health threat, posing a major challenge to healthcare systems worldwide. These infections, acquired by patients during hospitalization or other healthcare encounters, contribute substantially to several negative outcomes. Patients with HAIs experience longer hospital stays, require additional treatments, and face a higher risk of death. An estimated two million patients in the United States contract HAIs annually, resulting in approximately 99,000 deaths. Scrubs, designed as a protective barrier in the sterile environment of the operating room, may now be inadvertently facilitating the spread of pathogens in the community. HCWs who wear scrubs in public places risk transferring microorganisms acquired in the healthcare setting to public surfaces and potentially exposing the public to them as well as transferring microorganisms from public places to the healthcare setting. Objectives: To investigate the knowledge, attitudes, and practices of healthcare workers in the University of Benin Teaching Hospital (UBTH) regarding the use of scrubs with the aim of developing recommendations for interventions. Materials and Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study design was utilized for this study. Three hundred and five participants were selected using cluster sampling technique. Data was collected using a structured self-administered questionnaire comprising of open and closed ended questions. Data was analyzed using IBM SPSS version 25.0 with a p < 0.05 which was considered significant. Results: The mean age of the respondents was 27.86 (+/-6.097) years. Most of the total respondents (83.6%) had good knowledge of proper scrub use. Majority of the respondents (97.0%) had positive attitude towards proper scrub use. Most of the respondents (58.0%) had good scrub use practices. Conclusion: Majority of the respondents had positive knowledge, attitudes and practices towards proper scrub use. However, knowledge gaps and inconsistent practices were identified. Keywords: proper scrub use, healthcare workers, knowledge, attitudes, practices.
