Factors affecting Nurses Adherence to Recommended Respiratory Infection Control Practice guidelines after Educational Intervention.

Abstract

Introduction: The pandemic (H1N1) 2009 virus infection and the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) epidemic and concern about pandemic influenza prompted the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to develop guidelines to prevent the transmission of all respiratory infections in healthcare settings. The extent to which health care workers and institutions use these recommended practices is uncertain. Aim: It was to assess factors affecting nurse's adherence to the (CDC) recommended respiratory infection control practice guideline after the educational intervention. Subjects & Methods: Design: Quasi-experimental study.T tools 1) Self-administered questionnaire sheet to collect information about the characteristics of the study subjects 2) Observational checklist to assess nurses' practices related to the implementation of the practice guideline 3) Educational intervention includes a). Educational booklet. b). Four educational video films c) real objects. posters, leaflets, real material and objects 4) Self-administered questionnaire sheet involving the reported use of infection control practices 5) Opininnare sheet in the Arabic language to assess the nurse's opinions regarding obstacles that affect their adherence to respiratory infection control practices. Results: the mean age of nurses was 31.0±7.3 year's old, means years of experience were 12.9 ±9.9. Only (6.5%) attended courses specific to respiratory infection control Nurses' level of knowledge improved after the educational intervention with a highly statistically significant difference (t=-26.8&p<0.001). Nurse’s practices improved after the educational intervention with a highly statistically significant difference (t=-25.9 &p<0.001). There was no statistically significant difference (x2=4.2 & p > 0.05) between years of experience of nurses and their total level of knowledge and practices before and after the educational intervention. 54.2% of nurses did not know if there is an instruction guide for the patient and 52% never inform staff of the presence of respiratory symptoms, while 37.5% of nurses never instruct the patient to avoid infection and follow preventive precautions. 91.7% of nurses never asked patients to sit 3 feet from each other. Around 63.3% and 61.7% of nurses reported the use of hand hygiene and (PPE) respectively. The top four obstacles or barriers that affect adherence were the unavailability of necessary equipment and supplies, workload, lack of motivation or incentives, and a shortage of staff (72%, 71%, 70%and 67% respectively. Conclusion: nurses. Educational intervention improves nurses knowledge and practice but the factors that affect nurses adherence to the recommended guideline. Recommendations: an innovative solution to overcome the barriers. The ongoing educational program that is specific to respiratory infection prevention