DOI: 10.36347/sajb.2018.v06i07.001

Pages: 475-479

The study aimed to determine the prevalence of MRSA infection in the selected hospitals and identify possible risk factors that contribute to its spread. 69 respondents from secondary hospitals (39 from public and 30 from private hospitals) were studied. The profile factors studied were hospital type, sex, position, length of service and working hours. Of these, only the type of hospital and the staff position are the variables that affect MRSA carriage. There was a higher rate of infection in public hospitals (66.67%) compared to private hospitals (30.00%). The calculated odds ratio for the public hospital, the private hospital and both private and public hospitals were 14, 0.29 and 2.31 respectively. Respondents were gauged on their knowledge of MRSA guidelines, policies for the admittance of MRSA-positive patients, the transportation guidelines, hand washing procedures and knowledge of hand hygiene products. Statistics show significant differences in the information release and transport of MRSA patients and the knowledge of hand hygiene products between public and private hospitals. 60.42% of respondents were not confident of their knowledge of MRSA with 84.60% feeling that they lacked information. Respondents from hospital A (68.40%), B (63.75%) and C (61.5%) were not informed of the MRSA status of patients who were admitted. 47.83% don’t inform the transport service of the status of the patient being transported. Hand hygiene was maintained by constant washing with soap and water and alcohols. Differences in policies of public and private hospitals may account for the differences in the number of infected individuals.