Abstract:
Tuberculosis and Human Immunodeficiency Virus are among the top ten causes of death
globally. To prevent the spread of these infections, health workers and student nurses
should comply to infection prevention and control measures called standard precautions.
The aim of this study is to assess compliance of Eswatini university student nurses regarding
standard precautions for preventing Tuberculosis and Human Immunodeficiency Virus.
A non-experimental quantitative approach was used to conduct a survey on all senior student
nurses of Eswatini University using questionnaires. IBM SPSS Statistics version 26
software was used to analyse the data. Results from this study showed that out of the 105
student nurses who were asked only 51.4% (n = 54) said they always used personal protective
equipment. However, they did comply well on disposing sharps as 92.4% (n = 97)
reported that they always used designated containers. There is a need for close supervision
of student nurses in the clinical area. The researcher recommends that clinical facilitator
should always accompany student nurses in the clinical area and that preceptors should be
exempted from other nursing duties when there are student nurses in the hospitals so that
they can mentor the students.
