Universal Precautions and Infection Prevention and Control.

1. 1. The idea of universal precautions assumes that all bodily fluids are infectious, hence all medical professionals must handle blood and/or bodily fluids as though they are infected. This not only safeguards caregivers but also eliminates any stigma connected with using gloves and masks around patients who are very contagious by following the same protocols for everyone.
   2. The single most crucial behavior for halting the spread of infection and disease is hand washing. Regardless of the existence or absence of any known diseases and infections, proper hand washing were performed as part of regular work practices and routines. Additionally, staff members are expected to help customers wash their hands frequently. Every employee washed their hands at the start and conclusion of every shift, before and after handling food, before and after helping someone with personal care, after any contact with blood or bodily fluids, and after any potential contamination. Examples include managing dirty clothing or dishes, taking out the trash, etc. The following procedure were followed when washing hands.

                          a. Use warm water on your hands and wrists.
                          b. Use sufficient soap to produce lather.
c. Make lather by rubbing your hands together.
d. Lather up your hands and vigorously rub them for at least 10 to 15 seconds (palms backs of                                   hands, fingers, spaces between fingers, around and under nails, and wrists).
e. Wash your hands for three to five minutes if you have come into contact with blood or other                                   potentially infectious items.
f. Completely rinse with warm water.
g. Using a fresh paper towel, pat the skin dry.
h. Use a dry paper towel to turn off the faucet.
f.  Get rid of trash.

3. Employees were made sure that their coughs and sneezes were properly covered.
Coughing or sneezing into a tissue or paper towel was considered to be appropriately covered. Staff members were cough or sneeze into their elbows if these things were not accessible. Additionally, staff members were expected to help clients understand and employ proper cough- and sneeze-coverage techniques.

4. Gloves were worn to create a barrier between hands and any potential infection sources. When contact with high risk bodily fluids is reasonably anticipated, gloves must be used. For each circumstance and each individual serviced, new gloves were utilized. To ensure safety, gloves were removed from "skin to skin" and "glove to glove".

 Population For the study
Doctors, nurses, medical laboratory scientists, health aides, and waste handlers at the teaching hospital run by the University of Port Harcourt made up the study's population. There were 400 people working as health care providers who have been employed for at least 6 months and are actively involved in handling garbage, needles, sharp items, and bodily fluids.

Sample and Sampling technique
Sample size determination:
Using Taro Yamane formula for the sample size.
n= N/(1+N(e)^2 )
Where, N = population of study
n= sample size
e= level of significance or margin of error
I= unit (a constant)
Therefore,
N= 400
e= 0.05
n=?
(The choice of 0.05 level of significance is purely an exclusive
decision of researcher).
Replacing the values above with the above formulae, we have
n= 400/(1+400(0.05)^2 )
n= (400 )/(1+400(0.0025))
n= 400/(1+1)
n= (400 )/2
n= 200

Sampling method
Multistage sampling technique was used. First stage was the sampling of 30% of the departments in the university of Portharcourt teaching hospital which should be representative of all the twenty departments. 30% of it was 6 departments. Second stage was purposeful selection of the six departments who were more involved in handling patient blood, bodily fluids, sharp objects, needles and waste. Who also have been employed for at least 6 months. The selected departments were Male and Female medical wards, Male and Female surgical wards ,Theatres ,medical laboratories, obstetrics and Waste handlers.

Third stage is the sampling of the health care workers from the selected departments where they work using simple random sampling.14 doctors,19 nurses, and 11 heaith assistants were randomly sampled  from male and female medical wards. Same number respectively sample from male and female surgical wards .In the theatre,12doctors,18nurses,and 11 health assistants were sample .From the laboratories 33 medical laboratory scientists and 11health assistants sampled. Also 27 waste handlers were sampled in waste handling department.

Instrument of Data Collection
The descriptive survey research employs the use of structured questionnaires, which was thought to be the most effective method for reaching the study's population, particularly when the instrument can be used to collect the necessary data. A questionnaire with both open-ended and closed-ended questions was the research tool employed for the study. Based on the research topics put forth for the study, the questionnaire was created from the review of the literature. The questionnaire's Section "A" contained information about the respondents' backgrounds. Section B investigated standard precaution knowledge, Section C studied standard precaution attitudes, and Section D examined standard precaution practices.

Table 4: Practice of standard precaution by the respondents.