P116 Knowledge, Attitude, Practice of Infection Prevention and Control Precautions among Laboratory Staff: a Mixed-Methods Systematic Review

Background A hospital laboratory provides services and information that help to maximise the effective delivery of care in today's complex healthcare system. Despite the importance of laboratories, they are a potentially dangerous workplace due to chemical, physical, biological, mechanical or radiation hazards. Nevertheless, the laboratory can be a safe workplace if the identification of possible hazards, clear guidelines, safety rules and infection prevention and control (IPC) precautions are applied and followed. The main aim of this systematic review was to identify, critically appraise and synthesize the research evidence to gain a clear explanation of the implementation, knowledge, attitude and practice of infection prevention and control guidelines among laboratory staff. Methods The review is based upon a narrative synthesis of quantitative, qualitative and mixed methods research papers that examine the implementation, knowledge, attitude and practice of infection prevention and control guidelines among laboratory staff. Results After the full-text screening, a total of 34 articles remained and were included in the final review. The knowledge, attitude and practice of infection prevention and control guidelines were identified and grouped into several themes: awareness of IPC precautions; acceptability of IPC precautions; compliance with IPC precautions; perception of risk; exposure and post exposure prophylaxis; immunisation against infectious diseases; training and on infection prevention and control guidelines; associations between knowledge and practice; barriers and facilitators to poor practice and adherence. Conclusion The review showed that there is a difference between knowledge, attitude and practice regarding the implementation of infection prevention and control guidelines which indicate that laboratory staff may be at high risk of acquiring infections in the workplace. These findings suggest that training (including IPC precautions, safety equipment and materials, initial biohazard handling, ongoing monitoring and potential exposure) of laboratory staff to increase their knowledge about IPC precautions could improve their use of these precautions.