Aim: The cleaning staff at hospitals have risks for infections as all the other health workers. The cleaners have important responsibilities as to protect themselves from infections but also to prevent spreading of infections.
The aim of this study was to determine the knowledge and behaviour of cleaning staff working at Ondokuz Mayıs University Medical Faculty Hospital (OMUTF).
Materials and Methods: this descriptive study was condected between 01-31 March 2007 and included 205 (80%) of 256 staff working at OMUTF and accepted to participate the study. A quastionnaire was applied to participants.
Results: It was found that 52.6%, 46.3%, 36.0% of staff was wearing gloves while collecting garbage, cleaning toilets and wipening the floor, respectively, of the staff 77.6% was chaning their working apron weekly and there was no difference according to gender and education level in apron changing frequency (p>0.05). The contamination routes of Hepatitis B and HIV infections were know better among graduates of secondary and higher schools than the graduates of primary school and the difference was statistically significant. (p
Key words: Cleaning Staff, Occupational Infection Risk, Infection Diseases, Hospital, Hand Washing
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