European Journal of Molecular & Clinical Medicine

Abstract

Background: As a factor of occupational exposure while treating for HIV patients, healthcare personnel are at risk of developing HIV. HIV postexposure prophylaxis (PEP) is a successful antiretroviral therapy regimen intended to prevent probable HIV infection after an unintentional occupational HIV exposure. Issues such as poor knowledge on HIV PEP practise, lack of awareness of precautionary guidelines on HIV PEP, affect the practise of HIV post exposure prophylaxis. Therefore, there is a need for health care professionals to receive additional PEP for HIV education. Objectives: The purpose of this study was to evaluate medical students' knowledge, attitudes, and practises regarding HIV post exposure prophylaxis. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 91 final year medical undergraduates of a tertiary care teaching hospital during August and September 2022. Self-administered structured questionnaire was developed in order to collect the study data from the participants.  All the data collected was analysed by percentage method. Results: A total of 91 final year medical graduates were the respondents. The overall knowledge of PEP towards HIV was found to have adequate knowledge (more than 70 percent) among majority (67.6%) and also majority of the participants had positive attitude (90.5)%. However, only 50% of the research participants maintained the entire course of HIV PEP, and the other 50% dropped out. It was observed that, intolerance to the negative effects of antiretroviral medications was the only hindering factor in completing HIV PEP course. Conclusion: The knowledge and application of needle stick safety among healthcare professionals must be improved through frequent training sessions