Low impact of knowledge on compliance with COVID-19 precautions: Healthcare workers in Eswatini

Background: The increasing number of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)-related deaths among healthcare workers in Eswatini suggests that there may be suboptimal compliance with standard precautions among healthcare workers in the country. Aim: The study aimed to assess healthcare worker knowledge of and compliance with COVID-19 standard precautions. Setting: A quantitative descriptive cross-sectional study using stratified sampling was conducted among healthcare workers in two major regional referral hospitals of Eswatini. Methods: Data were collected using a structured self-administered questionnaire, and analysed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences version 29. Statistical measures for analysis included descriptive statistics, cross-tabulations, Pearson correlation, 95% confidence interval and a significance level set at p < 0.05. Results: A total of 146 study participants were recruited, and a response rate of 68.9% (146/212), of which the majority (61%) were nurses was received. Overall knowledge of and compliance with COVID-19 standard precautions were 81.27% and 72%, respectively. Nurses were more knowledgeable of the standard precautions (82.9%), while cleaners and/or orderlies were more compliant with the standard precautions (83.88%). There was no significant correlation between knowledge of and compliance with standard precautions. Conclusion: Healthcare workers are knowledgeable and compliant with COVID-19 standard precautions. Receiving training on standard precautions does not improve knowledge of or compliance with standard precautions. Furthermore, knowledge of the standard precautions does not improve compliance with the standard precautions. Contribution: The study findings benefits the National IPC programme in its revision of IPC policies, guidelines and standard precautions training curricula and also inform improvements to interventions aimed at maximising compliance with COVID-19 standard precautions.