Effects of the Implementation of an Infection Control Link Nurse Programe on Clinical Nurses Compliance with Standard Precautions

Abstract

Effects of the Implementation of an Infection Control Link Nurse Programe on Clinical Nurses Compliance with Standard Precautions Background: Health care associated infections cause significant morbidity and mortality in patients and form a financial burden to health care systems. Implementation of Infection Control Link Nurse programs at the health care facilities is a strategy to improve clinical practice that has been implemented in hospitals worldwide. However, little is known about the effectiveness of infection control link nurse programs on clinical nurses’ compliance with standard precautions. The purpose of this study was to assess the effectiveness of implementing infection control link nurse program to improve clinical nurses’ compliance with compliance with standard precautions. Methods: A quasi-experimental study with a pretest-post-test design was conducted. participants were 154 nurses working in different units of Sina Educational, Research and Treatment Center in Tabriz. In the intervention group (n=77nurses), two nurses per ward were selected and trained as an ICLN with the aim to promote standard precautions. guidelines for their team. The intervention group had 16 infection control link nurse nominated. The control group (n=77 nurses) continued the routine approach of infection prevention and control used in the hospital. Pre- and post-test assessment of compliance with standard precautions and hand hygiene compliance was performed via the Compliance with Standard Precautions Scale (CSPS) and the World Health Organization observational hand hygiene form. Two independent sample t-tests were used to examine differences between Compliance with Standard Precautions and hand hygiene Compliance among nurses in intervention and control group. Multiple linear regression analysis was used to assess the effect size. Results: After developing and implementing the infection control link nurse program, An improvement in hand hygiene compliance was observed among nurses in the intervention group that improved statistically significant from 18.80% before the program to 37.32% 6 months after the program (β= 20.82; 95% CI 16.40–25.25, p<0.001). whereas no significant improvement was found in the control group. At the post-test, nurses in the intervention group reported an increased compliance with Standard Precautions but this was not statistically significant (β= 1.03; 95% CI= -0.05 to 2.13, p=0.064). Conclusions: Given the continuing level of interest that exists in improving health care workers’ hand hygiene practices, the findings of this study provide significant practical implications for hospitals seeking to improve compliance with hand hygiene among nurses, showing the effectiveness of using infection control link nurse program. Further research is needed to assess effectiveness of using infection control link nurse program to improve compliance with standard precautions.