PONE-D-19-25121

Occupational exposure to HIV among nurses at a major tertiary hospital: Reporting and utilization of post exposure prophylaxis; A cross-sectional study in the Western Cape, South Africa

PLOS ONE

Dear Ms Kabotho,

Thank you for submitting your manuscript to PLOS ONE. After careful consideration, we feel that it has merit but does not fully meet PLOS ONE’s publication criteria as it currently stands. Therefore, we invite you to submit a revised version of the manuscript that addresses the points raised during the review process.

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ACADEMIC EDITOR: The reviews have recommended revisions to your manuscript. Please consider these comments especially regarding further details of the methodology and improvements to the presentation of the results.

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Tanya Doherty, PhD

Academic Editor

PLOS ONE

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Reviewers' comments:

Reviewer's Responses to Questions

Comments to the Author

1. Is the manuscript technically sound, and do the data support the conclusions?

The manuscript must describe a technically sound piece of scientific research with data that supports the conclusions. Experiments must have been conducted rigorously, with appropriate controls, replication, and sample sizes. The conclusions must be drawn appropriately based on the data presented.

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

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2. Has the statistical analysis been performed appropriately and rigorously?

Reviewer #1: I Don't Know

Reviewer #2: Yes

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3. Have the authors made all data underlying the findings in their manuscript fully available?

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Reviewer #1: No

Reviewer #2: Yes

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Reviewer #1: No

Reviewer #2: Yes

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5. Review Comments to the Author

Please use the space provided to explain your answers to the questions above. You may also include additional comments for the author, including concerns about dual publication, research ethics, or publication ethics. (Please upload your review as an attachment if it exceeds 20,000 characters)

Reviewer #1: Background. Line 86-87 “To our knowledge, there are no recent studies published on nurses’exposure to HIV at the workplace in South Africa.” Perhaps include the following study done in Limpopo: Makhado, L., Davhana- Maselesele, M. Knowledge and uptake of occupational post-exposure prophylaxis amongst nurses caring for people living with HIV. Curationis. 2016, 39(1), a1593. http://dx.doi.org/10.4102/ curationis.v39i1.1593

Sampling and analysis: Was clustering considered in the analysis strategy (regression model)?

Questionnaire validity reliability: Describe the questionnaire validity and reliability, for example, was content validity of the questionnaire checked by experts in the field? Was a Cronbach alpha calculated for the attitudes scale?

Data collection: How reliable is the knowledge score if participants did not complete this under supervision? Indicate the date of data collection (months and year).

Results: Education of nurses – did the authors distinguish between the different levels of nurses, for example assistant nurses (auxiliaries), enrolled nurses and professional nurses?

Results: In lines 236 & 250, question numbers are mentioned, but is not clear to which questions they refer. Perhaps the authors could indicate the question numbers in Tables 2 and 4 or perhaps just refer to the table to prevent repetition.

General: The tables should be formatted consistently, for example, the font type. Figures are not very clear on the manuscript draft.

Acknowledgements: Consult the journal guidelines for what is required in the acknowledgements section.

References: Formatting should be attended to. Some references do not appear to be correct, e.g. line 384. Journal names, volumes, issue, pages, date, doi, etc. to be added consistently.

Reviewer #2: In general a well written manuscript. One concern is the validity and reliability of the questionnaire used - suggest that this is added to the manuscript. Additional comments have been made on the attached document for consideration.

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Reviewer #1: Yes: Talitha Crowley

Reviewer #2: No

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Attachments

Attachment

Submitted filename: PONE-D-19-25121_reviewer.pdf

Occupational exposure to HIV among nurses at a major tertiary hospital: Reporting and utilization of post exposure prophylaxis; A cross-sectional study in the Western Cape, South Africa

PONE-D-19-25121R1

Dear Dr. Kabotho,

We are pleased to inform you that your manuscript has been judged scientifically suitable for publication and will be formally accepted for publication once it complies with all outstanding technical requirements.

Within one week, you will receive an e-mail containing information on the amendments required prior to publication. When all required modifications have been addressed, you will receive a formal acceptance letter and your manuscript will proceed to our production department and be scheduled for publication.

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With kind regards,

Tanya Doherty, PhD

Academic Editor

PLOS ONE

Additional Editor Comments (optional):

Reviewers' comments: