Standard precaution adherence among clinical medical students in HIV and non-HIV ward in Indonesia
Volume 10, Issue 5, May 2020, Pages 1-5
. Firas Farisi Alkaff, . Sovia Salamah, . Adila Taufik Syamlan, . William Putera Sukmajaya, . Ricardo Adrian Nugraha, . Michael Jonatan, . Sulistiawati Sulistiawati
Abstract INTRODUCTION: Health‑care workers, especially medical intern, are at risk of exposed to blood
and other body fluids in the course of their work. To reduce the risk, standard precaution (SP) is
introduced. Among all communicable diseases that could be transmitted, human immunodeficiency
virus (HIV) is the most stigmatized disease. However, there are some government hospitals that
separated adult HIV patients with other patients to prevent additional infection. This study aims to
evaluate the impact of ward separation on SP adherence.
MATERIALS AND METHODS: This was an observational study conducted in March 2017 in a tertiary
referral hospital for the eastern part of Indonesia. The participants were 150 medical students who
underwent the past year of their clinical rotation. They were given a three‑part questionnaire, consisting
of their background, their SP practice in the HIV ward and non‑HIV wards, and their perception and
attitude regarding SP. McNemar’s test and Fisher’s exact test were used for the statistical analysis,
using SPSS version 23.0 for Windows.
RESULTS: Participants were more adhered to SP (hand hygiene, wear mask as indicated, and
wear glove as indicated) in the HIV ward compare to non‑HIV wards (P = 0.002, P = 0.001, and
P = 0.001, respectively). Almost all participants were more careful in implementing SP in the HIV
ward than in non‑HIV wards and were more concerned of getting needlestick injury in the HIV ward
than in non‑HIV ward.
CONCLUSION: HIV and non‑HIV ward separation negatively impact medical students’ SP adherence.