Nurses' Compliance to Infection Control Precautions: Management of Patient Care Equipment at the Medical and Surgical Departments

Introduction: Non-critical of Patient Care Equipment (PCE) in healthcare have been linked to an increased infection risk. All nurses have a role to play in infection control precautions (ICPs) related to management of PCE promoting health. Aim: The current study was aimed to determine the nurses’ compliance to infection control precautions related to management of patient care equipment at the medical-surgical departments. Design: A descriptive research design was used. Setting: This study was conducted at the general medical and surgical departments, Alexandria Main University Hospital (AMUH) and Shark El Madinah Hospital. Sample: the study constituted a convenient 77 female nurses; 59 from AMUH (hospital A) and 18 from Shark El Madinah Hospital (hospital B). Two tools were developed including: Tool 1: Management of non-critical patient care equipment: Nurses' knowledge regarding infection control precautions (Structured interview schedule). Tool 2: Management of non-critical patient care equipment: Nurses' compliance to infection control precautions (Observational Checklist). Results: Most of the nurses i.e. (64.4% and 72.2%) had attended training program(s) about ICPs in hospital A and B respectively. Most of the nurses in hospital A i.e. (88.1%) had satisfactory knowledge as well as in hospital B i.e. (83.3%). The majority (60%) of the nurses who didn't attend training program(s) had poor knowledge and (55.6%) of the nurses had good knowledge. An overall compliance with ICPs related to PCE were detected by (47.01%) of the nurses in hospital A and (79.18%) in B. Nurses' compliance with ICPs related to PCE was not influenced by their age, years of experience, educational level and training programs. Conclusion: Nurses' knowledge about ICPs related to management of non-critical PCE was satisfactory among the (Hospital A) nursing staff members, compared to (Hospital B) nurses staff (who demonstrated good knowledge). Compliance with ICPs related to management of non-critical PCE was poor in hospital A than in hospital B. Recommendations: Personnel responsible for clean PCE must receive special training on the proper standard procedures. Policies and procedures related to management of PCE have to be developed, updated and continually reviewed to ensure that decontamination processes specified set out by international health agencies Keywords: Patient care equipment, Nursing compliance, Infection control, Disinfection, Sterilizatio