Infection control and environmental sustainability: focus on practice

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Due to the emerging threat conditions in the work environment, firefighters are at a high risk of exposure to not only toxic substances but also biological agents in the dayroom and during emergency runs. The aim of this study is to evaluate firefighter (career and volunteer) knowledge and practice behaviors on infection control. This study surveyed 444 firefighters (210 career, 234 volunteer) in rural Northwestern Kentucky. The self-reported survey focused on individual characteristics, knowledge on exposure incident control, precautionary actions, and personal protections. We evaluated the descriptive characteristics of knowledge and practice scores stratified by firefighter groups (career and volunteers). The associations between infection control training received (yes/no) and firefighter knowledge and practice scores were also examined. Firefighters who were trained on infection control prevention had significantly higher knowledge scores (M = 63.7, SD = 13.4 vs. M = 59.7, SD = 15.9; p = 0.012). Volunteer firefighters exhibited better infection control practice behaviors than career firefighters (M = 70.6, SD = 13.0 vs. M = 67.4, SD = 11.1; p = 0.05). Firefighters who followed infection control guidelines (M = 69.5, SD = 11.9 vs. M = 58.1, SD = 9.9; p = 0.012) and expressed need for a comprehensive training on personal protective equipment (PPE) selection (β = 3.41, SE = 1.54, aOR = 30.22, 95% CI: 1.47–620.87; p = 0.028) had significantly higher practice scores compared to those who did not. The study results have policy implications for infection prevention and control (IPC) in rural fire departments, both career and volunteer. A review of infection control policies is needed, especially as it relates to training and practice behaviors during emergency calls and in the dayroom. Results also suggest the need to develop strategies to improve the culture of PPE use and training on the selection of PPEs appropriate to the emergency response type.

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In epidemics of highly infectious diseases, such as Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) or Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), healthcare workers (HCW) are at much greater risk of infection than the general population, due to their contact with patients' contaminated body fluids. Contact precautions by means of personal protective equipment (PPE) can reduce the risk. It is unclear which type of PPE protects best, what is the best way to remove PPE, and how to make sure HCW use PPE as instructed.

Diversity equity and Inclusion: To advance infection prevention and control efforts, nursing assistants need to be given the opportunity to dance

Background. Today, the topic of combating Healthcare-Associated Infections (HAIs) is becoming increasingly relevant. The World Health Organization has developed the concept of Infection Prevention and Control (IPC), which is a key component of quality control and patient safety in hospitals. Aim. To analyze modern methods of infection prevention and the role of healthcare workers in the effective implementation of infection control measures, according to the data of modern literature sources. Materials and Methods. We analyzed the literature on prevention of hospital-acquired infections, as well as the importance of infection control in improving patient safety, the role of medical staff in the provision of medical care. The search for scientific information was carried out using the scientific databases Scopus, PubMed, Web of Science, Google Scholar. Results & Conclusions. Hospital-acquired infections are a serious public health problem associated with increased patient morbidity and mortality, as well as an economic burden on healthcare systems. Approximately 10% of hospitalized patients in high-income countries are affected by HAIs. Infection control is defined as a set of effective organizational, preventive and anti-epidemic measures aimed at preventing the occurrence and spread of healthcare-associated infections. Healthcare workers play an important role in the effective implementation of infection control measures. The use of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), hand hygiene, environmental cleaning, screening and isolation, sterilization and disinfection, surveillance and reporting, vaccination and the introduction of innovative technologies in hospital infection control are important elements of the prevention and control of HAIs. Hospital infection control is essential to protect patients, healthcare workers and the wider community from HAIs. These measures are important to protect patients, healthcare workers and all society. Keywords: hand hygiene, healthcare-associated infections, infection prevention.

PTB Reports,2022,8,2,77-83.DOI:10.5530/PTB.2022.8.10Published:July 2022Type:Review ArticleAuthors:Dr. Yousef Ahmed Alomi, Anhar Alyousef, Mohammed Mominul Islam, Nahed Rashid Alyami, Maha Hussein Almadany, and Fatimah Abdaziz Almana Author(s) affiliations:Dr. Yousef Ahmed Alomi*, BSc. Pharm, MSc. Clin Pharm, BCPS, BCNSP, DiBA, CDE Critical Care Clinical Pharmacists TPN Clinical Pharmacist, Freelancer Business Planner, Content Editor, and Data Analyst, Riyadh, SAUDI ARABIA. Anhar Alyousef, Pharm D Innova Healthcare Company, Riyadh, SAUDI ARABIA. Mohammed Mominul Islam, MBBS, MPH, MSc, Deputy Director, Department of Infection Prevention and Control (IPC), King Fahad Specialist Hospital, Tabuk, SAUDI ARABIA. Nahed Rashid Alyami, BSc, Mphil, BCPS, BCCCP, CPHQ Head of Clinical Pharmacy Unit, ID and ICU Senior Clinical Pharmacist, Jubail General Hospital, Jubail, SAUDI ARABIA. Maha Hussein Almadany, BSc. Pharm. Health Care Quality Management Professional Diploma (HCQM), Pharmacy Quality, Department King Salman bin Abdulaziz Medical City, Al Madina Al Monwarah, SAUDI ARABIA. Fatimah Abdaziz Almana, BSc, MSc, MSHA, King Fahad Specialist Hospital, Dammam, SAUDI ARABIA. Abstract:Objectives: Pharmacoepidemiology and infection control surveillance is an initiative that provides insights into pharmacy infection control. It involves various guidelines and policies that must be followed to ensure the pharmacy environment and workplace are secured from infections. Different approaches have been considered for the measures to be effective. Documentation of pharmacy practices in every area of the pharmacy department is vital in controlling the pharmacy infections. This study aimed to explore the pharmacoepidemiology and infection control surveillance policy in pharmacy practice as a new initiative in Saudi Arabia. Methods: It is a narrative review of pharmacoepidemiology and infection control surveillance pharmacy practice. Litterateur searched. A literature search was performed using various databases, including PubMed, Medline, and Google Scholar, about specific pharmacy practice infection control policies and procedures. The search period was from the 1960s until October 2021. The terms were in English and included narrative review, systemic review, metaanalysis, and guidelines across all hospitals and community pharmacy services. Moreover, the national and international guidelines of were searched that relates to the study objectives. The committee of pharmacy research formulated and consisted of various experts, including clinical pharmacists, drug information pharmacists, and infection control specialists. Some authors drafted the policy guidelines, and others reviewed and corrected them. The additional author, an infection control specialist, revised the final document. The study emphasizes the pharmacoepidemiology and infection control surveillance of the Pharmacy infection control policy. Results: The Pharmacoepidemiology and infection control surveillance policy consisted of pharmacoepidemiology and infection control surveillance steps in pharmacy practice. The pharmacoepidemiology and infection control surveillance contained multiple performances: infected prepared medications, type of bugs, and sensitivity patterns to medications. In addition to the number of spillage cleaning and needle-stick injuries, the number of cross-tarnsmission of infections. Besides, the search also included adherence to infection control guidelines. Conclusion: Pharmacoepidemiology and infection control surveillance policy is a new pharmacy infection prevention and control initiative. The pharmacoepidemiology and infection control surveillance policy enhances the infection control documentation system. Additionally, it encourages pharmacists to follow infection prevention and control regulations in various locations throughout the public and healthcare systems. Therefore, pharmacoepidemiology and infection control surveillance policies strongly recommend Saudi Arabian pharmacy pratices. Keywords:Control, Infection, Pharmacoepidemiology, Pharmacy, SurveillanceView:PDF (268.25 KB) PDF PDF Images Pharmacoepimedilogy and infection control surveillances steps flow chart.

Healthcare workers are always at higher risk of biological exposure as the healthcare setting is hazardous, and it is impracticable to exclude infection. Poor compliance with standard precautions among healthcare workers is one of the leading causes of healthcare-associated infections. This study analyzed the gaps in knowledge, attitude, and practice of infection control among healthcare workers and the influence of the COVID-19 pandemic, internet, and social media usage on infection control. A cross-sectional study was conducted from 1st to 31st March 2022 among various healthcare professionals using a self-administered structured questionnaire to evaluate knowledge, attitude, and practice on infection control. The impact of COVID-19, Internet, and social media usage on infection control practices was also analyzed. Among 382 healthcare workers who participated in the study, 89.4% of the participants had good knowledge, 55.26% had a neutral attitude, and all showed good practice levels on infection control. Similarly, the result showed that internet and social media usage during COVID-19 had significantly enhanced the knowledge, attitude, and practice on infection control. Healthcare professionals must be frequently updated on infection control guidelines and routine training programs. The hospital's adherence to the Joint Commission International (JCI) guidelines reduces the risk of healthcare-associated infections. As observed in this study, due to the prominent influence of social media and the internet, these platforms can be exploited to provide training and awareness to healthcare professionals and the public.

Dear Editor, Healthcare-associated infections are among the most common adverse health outcomes globally, with at least one in ten patients acquiring an infection while receiving care in low-and middle-income countries (1).This infection is significantly influenced by factors such as weakened patient immune systems, invasive treatments, inadequate sanitation, and antibiotic-resistant germs.These infections result in serious outcomes, including higher death rates, longer hospital stays, increased healthcare expenses, and great strains on both patients and healthcare systems.Furthermore, the rising use of antibiotics to manage these infections contributes to the spread of antimicrobial resistance, with nosocomial infections also posing a risk of transmission from patients to healthcare workers (2).Effective infection prevention and control are critical for eliminating avoidable hospital-acquired infections and are integral to providing safe, effective, and high-quality healthcare services (3).The World Health Organization estimates that effective infection prevention and control programs can reduce hospital-acquired infection rates by up to 30% (4).Healthcare professionals have a crucial role in preventing infections, actively educating patients, and grounding their practices in current scientific research.Nurses, as patient advocates, are uniquely positioned to champion improvements in patient care protocols and standards.The most important nursing intervention for infection prevention is hand hygiene, and nurses must use personal protective equipment when handling body fluids.However, implementing effective infection control in hospitals faces several challenges that can impact patient care quality and healthcare worker safety.Some of these challenges include: 1. Resistance to change: Many healthcare staff resist new

Introduction Healthcare associated infection (HAI) is global health problem and main reasons behind these infections are suboptimal infection control practices along with excessive antibiotics consumption [1]. On the other hand, environmental factors including inadequate ventilation, bed spacing, contaminated water supply, environmental surfaces and improper disposal of waste are other concerns. The HAI risk can be minimized by implementation of infection prevention and control program, which is comprised of activities directed to dig out problems and applying various techniques to bring about a change in healthcare workers attitude in order to improve infection control practices [2].In the last decade infection prevention and control at hospital has been significantly improved globally. Measures such as hand hygiene, environmental cleaning, culture based screening are implemented in order to minimize hospital stay, morbidity and mortality. Objective The study was conducted to compare the difference in infection control at our hospital before and after taking measurement at our newly established centre. Material and Method It was an analytical cross-sectional study carried out at our new campus. The study was conducted from February 2018 to January 2019.Ethical approval was taken from research committee prior to the study and informed consent was taken from the patients and staff. The study was fabricated in two phases i.e. initial and later six months of hospital establishment. Based on the results obtained in the initial six months, we assigned an infection control team, along with facilitation of training sessions for our staff. Culture samples were taken from patients, patient’s rooms, patient’s wards, accessories inside the patient’s room, from counters and corridors. Blood cultures were performed using the BACTEC blood culture system. Organisms were identified according to routine bacteriological procedures and disc diffusion method was used for interpreting antibiotic susceptibility. Data were included cultures reports taken from the laboratory. For statistical analysis, SPSS version 23.0 was used. Descriptive statistics was applied for categorical variables and Chi square test was used to observe the association with significance level as p=<0.05. Results A total of 1151 cultures were sent including patients, staff and environmental cultures. Out of which 681 (59%) were sent in initial phase and 470 (41%) were sent in later phase. The number of samples sent in initial and later phase and its distribution is depicted in Table 1. The growth of organisms was observed in initial and later phase from the samples and it was found out that there was increased rate of fungal growth in environment cultures in initial and later phase. In majority of the patient’s samples, no bacterial growth was reported in initial and later phase. (Table 2)Overall, absence of any organisms was found to be statistically same in both phases. However, bacterial and fungal growth reduced in later than the initial phase and the reduction in fungal growth was statistically significant as shown in Table 3 The samples taken from the patients and environment in initial and later phase were compared and are depicted in table 4. The growth of organism from the environment, accessories inside the patient’s room, nursing counter, and patients was found statistically non-significant. Conclusion Our study revealed that the number of organisms isolated in initial phase was greater than the later phase but the reduction was not significant. Bringing about a change in healthcare workers attitude is always a big challenge. Constant reinforcement is impending for compliance of healthcare professionals towards infection control and prevention. Referernces 1) Shelanah A. Fernando GT, Thomas G. Healthcare-acquired infections: prevention strategies. Int J Gen Med 2017; 47:1341-51. 2) Lee MH, Lee GA, Lee SH, Park YH. Effectiveness and core components of infection prevention and control programmes in long-term care facilities: a systematic review. J Hosp Infect 2019; 102: 377-393

Background Little is known about hand hygiene (HH) policies and practices in long-term care facilities (LTCF). Hence, we decided to study the frequency of HH-related infection control (IC) gaps and the factors associated with it. Methods The Nebraska (NE) Infection Control Assessment and Promotion Program (ICAP) in collaboration with NE Department of Health and Human Services conducted in-person surveys and on-site observations to assess infection prevention and control programs (IPCP) in 30 LTCF from 11/2015 to 3/2017. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Infection Prevention and Control Assessment tool for LTCF was used for on-site interviews and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) Hospital IC Worksheet was used for observations. Gap frequencies were calculated for questions (6 on CDC survey and 8 on CMS worksheet) representing best practice recommendations (BPR). The factors studied for the association with the gaps included LTCF bed size (BS), hospital affiliation (HA), having trained infection preventionists (IP), and weekly hours (WH)/ 100 bed spent by IP on IPCP. Fisher’s exact test and Mann Whitney test were used for statistical analyses. Results HH-related IC gap frequencies from on-site interviews are displayed in Figure 1. Only 6 (20%) LTCF reported having all 6 BPR in place and 10 (33%) having 5 BPR. LTCF with fewer gaps (5 to 6 BPR in place) appear more likely to have HA as compared with the LTCF with more gaps but the difference didn’t reach statistical significance (37.5% vs. 7.1%, P = 0.09). When analyzed separately for each gap, it was found that LTCF with HA are more likely to have a policy on preferential use of alcohol based hand rubs than the ones without HA. (85.7%, vs. 26.1% P = 0.008). Several IC gaps were also identified during observations (Figure 2) with one of them being overall HH compliance of <80%. LTCF that have over 90% HH compliance are more likely to have higher median IP WH/100 beds dedicated towards IPCP as compared with the LTCFs with less than 90% compliance (16.4 vs. 4.4, P < 0.05). Conclusion Many HH-related IC gaps still exist in LTCF and require mitigation. Mitigation strategies may include encouraging LTCF to collaborate with IP at local acute care hospitals for guidance on IC activities and to increase dedicated IP times towards IPCP in LTCF. Disclosures All authors: No reported disclosures.