Comparative Study to Assess the Knowledge on Prevention of Parent to Child Transmission (PPTCT) of HIV among Staff Nurses Attended and Not-Attended In-Service Education Programme

HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus) is the virus that causes AIDS. This virus is passed from one person to another through blood-to-blood and sexual contact. Infected pregnant women can pass HIV to their baby during pregnancy or delivery, as well as through breast-feeding. Vertical transmission to the neonates is about 14-25%, transplacental transmission may occur in early (8-14) weeks of pregnancy, though majority (40-80%) occurs during labor. The risk of transmission of HIV from mother to child during pregnancy is 5-10%, during labor and delivery 10-20%, during breast-feeding 5-20%. Staff nurses play a vital role in preventing HIV transmission from mother to child, so ongoing evaluation of staff nurses knowledge was important. Therefore a comparative study was conducted to assess the knowledge of staff nurses who had attended and not attended in-service education programme regarding PPTCT of HIV in selected hospitals of Ludhiana, Punjab with the objectives to assess the knowledge of staff nurses who had attended and not-attended in-service education programme regarding PPTCT of HIV, to compare the knowledge of staff nurses who had attended and not attended in-service education programme regarding PPTCT of HIV and to find out the relationship of staff nurses knowledge with selected demographic variables. The study sample consisted of total 100 staff a nurse 50 from CMC & H and 50 from DMC & H. Data was analyzed by inferential statistics. The staff nurses who had attended in-service education programme on PPTCT of HIV had significant higher knowledge as compared to those who had not attended in-service education programme on PPTCT of HIV. This study shows that there is a need to conduct In-service education programmes in every Health care facility.