Knowledge, attitude, and practice study on hepatitis B among medical and nursing undergraduate students of an apex healthcare institute at Uttarakhand foothills: A descriptive analysis

BACKGROUND: Viral hepatitis is preventable, yet a global health priority. As hepatitis B (Hep B) remains an occupational risk for healthcare workers (HCWs), the Government of India recently mandated universal adult Hep B vaccination for all HCWs. However, in the absence of institutional policy, its...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Chhabra, Disksha, Mishra, Surabhi, Gawande, Kanchan, Sharma, Anusha, Kishore, Surekha, Bhadoria, Ajeet Singh
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Wolters Kluwer - Medknow 2019
Materias:
Original Article
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6691406/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31463256
http://dx.doi.org/10.4103/jfmpc.jfmpc_331_19
Descripción
Sumario:BACKGROUND: Viral hepatitis is preventable, yet a global health priority. As hepatitis B (Hep B) remains an occupational risk for healthcare workers (HCWs), the Government of India recently mandated universal adult Hep B vaccination for all HCWs. However, in the absence of institutional policy, its real-time utilization in a hospital was dependent on individual's general awareness. Therefore, this study was designed to assess baseline knowledge, attitude, and practices among undergraduate medical and nursing students, the future HCWs, regarding Hep B at an apex healthcare institute at Uttarakhand. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A descriptive survey was carried out using self-administered questionnaire among undergraduate medical and nursing students of a medical college between July and September 2018. Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS Ver 22.0) was used for analysis. RESULTS: The study comprised 180 medical and 183 nursing students. About 55.0% of medical and 33.9% of nursing students were correctly aware about the disease; 98.3% of medical and 86.9% of nursing students were aware about vaccine. About 80.6% of medical and 87.4% of nursing students showed positive attitude, recognizing disease as a public health problem. However, only 82.8% of medical and 70.0% of nursing students underwent vaccination; mere 62.4% and 49.2% of vaccinated completed three-dose vaccination schedule, respectively. Furthermore, around 7% of them checked their titer post vaccination. CONCLUSION: Despite comparatively low awareness level about the disease, most students had sufficiently high knowledge about vaccine and underwent vaccination. However, only half of them could complete three-dose vaccination schedule. Only a handful of subjects underwent post-vaccination titer assessment, an instrumental approach to safeguard them against accidental Hep B exposure.

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