Infection Control Practices among Pediatric Critical Care Nurses

Abstract

Background: Hospital-acquired infections (HAIs) are critical health problems. They are leading causes of increased morbidity and mortality, financial costs, prolonged hospitalization, and decreased quality of care. Pediatric critical nurses who have close contact and spend much time delivering comprehensive care services for patients are the most common transmitted factor of pathogens during clinical activities. Therefore, their practices of infection control procedures have been recognized as an efficient means to create a culture of safety for patients and control the spread of HAIs. Objective: This study aimed to examine infection control practices among pediatric critical care nurses and the factors related to practices. Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted on 95 nursing participants who worked in a selected government tertiary hospital for children in Can Tho, Vietnam. This study used a 4-point Likert-scale questionnaire with 20 items to assess the participants’ practices of infection control. Results: Nurses’ infection control practices were intermediate, with an overall mean score of 3.15 (S.D = 0.48). Among the subscales, disposal of sharps had the lowest score, while disposal of waste had the highest one (mean of 2.98+0.66 and 3.43+0.61, respectively). Besides, the study showed a significant relationship between experience in years and infection control practices (p=0.02). Conclusion: Nurses play a central role in controlling and preventing HAIs. Even so, the study findings showed that the practice of infection control was unsatisfied. This highlights the need to take the necessary measures to enhance the level of practice, especially for nurses who have less experience in the nursing profession.