Assessment of Infection Prevention and Control Practices at Operating Rooms in Nongovernmental Organizations Hospitals - Gaza Governorates
Date
2012-01-02
Authors
Jehad Nasri Elmadhoun
جهاد نصري المدهون
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Al-Quds University
Abstract
Hospital Acquired infections are considered one of the most serious problems in the world. The problem of infection prevention and control in our Palestinian hospitals becomes more serious especially with scarcity of resources and materials; also the lack of supportive policies and direction can exaggerate the situation. The Center for Disease Prevention and Control recommended that educating healthcare workers regarding infection control measures is the highest priority to prevent and control nosocomial infections.
The overall aim of this study is to assess the healthcare workers practices at the operating rooms in Nongovernmental Organizations hospitals in Gaza governorates on the light of infection prevention and control protocols. The design of this study is a descriptive analytical cross sectional with mainly quantitative approach and supported by in-depth interviews. The instruments used in this study were self-administered questionnaire, observation checklist for the physical environment of the operating rooms, observation checklist for the health care workers practices and in-depth interviews with the key persons. Six of the Nongovernmental hospitals in Gaza Governorates were included in the study according to eligibility criteria. The study included 169 participants, out of them 154 responded and completed the self-administered questionnaire with a response rate of 91%. Four hundred seventy seven observation checklists were done to assess the healthcare workers practices and 18 observation checklists were done to assess the physical environment of these operating rooms. General measures of validity and reliability were administered.
The research findings show that 81.6% of the respondents were exposed to sharp injuries, 88.7% stated that they need more training, 63% don't know about the Palestinian infection prevention and control protocols, 84.4% stated that there are no copies of the protocols in their operating rooms, 81% of the respondents said that the lack of knowledge and education regarding infection prevention and control is the main obstacle that prevents them of using the protocols, about 78.4%, 62.7% attributed the cause to the insufficient training and lack of supportive policy respectively. Only 39.6% of the respondents stated that their management policies support the infection control practices, 46.1% stated that there is no infection control committee in their hospitals, and 72.1% stated that they were never assessed regarding infection prevention and control.
The results of observation checklists show the unavailability of the protocols at the operating rooms in the six hospitals and the general adherence to all items of the protocols is weak, about 48.7% for hands washing, 43.5% for surgical scrub, 56.4% for wearing gloves, 41.9% for skin preparation and 51% for sharp disposals.
The study revealed statistically significant relationship between the practice and the knowledge, attitudes, training, air quality, flow system, operating room design and materials.
The researcher recommends that Nongovernmental Organizations hospitals need to increase their efforts towards improving healthcare workers compliance to protocols by increasing their awareness, knowledge through training and education programs and to disseminate the protocols to make it available to every healthcare worker or at least to be accessible in each department.