BACKGROUND

Healthcare-acquired infections (HAIs) are adverse events brought about by non-compliance of the healthcare staff to set of infection prevention and control (IPC) standards. Consequently, additional medical costs, increased mortality and morbidity rates, and decreased quality of life among patients can happen. As valuable players in preventing and controlling HAIs, nurses must have good knowledge and strict compliance with infection control; however, recent evidence suggests that nurses may need more knowledge or better integration into practice. Nurses' degree of knowledge and practice in preventing and controlling HAIs and factors influencing them should be determined to provide solutions appropriately.

The study specifically sought answers to the following questions: (1) What is the level of knowledge of nurses in the prevention and control of HAIs? (2) What is the degree of practice of nurses in the prevention and control of HAIs? (3) Is there a significant relationship between nurses' knowledge level and degree of practice in the prevention and control of HAIs? (4) What are the facilitating and hindering factors that affect nurses' practice in the prevention and control of HAIs?

The study utilized a quantitative descriptive correlational design. The study was conducted from May to June 2023 at a private tertiary hospital in Baguio City. The study included 128 nurses who fit the inclusion criteria. The respondents were asked to answer three questionnaires, and the data were statistically treated using mean, Spearman Rank correlation, frequency, percentage, and rank distribution.

The study found that nurses possess good knowledge and a suboptimal degree of practice in preventing and controlling HAIs. The results showed that no significant relationship existed between nurses' knowledge level and degree of practice in preventing and controlling HAIs. Perceived personal benefits and organizational encouragement were seen to primarily facilitate the prevention and control practices of nurses. The primary hindrance identified was workload due to staff shortage, poor dissemination of guidelines, and personal discomfort associated with the use of PPE.

A good level of knowledge is a derivative of learnings obtained through various educational modalities and these strategies are considered effective means of knowledge formulation. However, created knowledge without actual application into practice results in overuse of unhelpful interventions. To avoid the unnecessary effects of ineffective knowledge translation, a multifactorial consideration is necessary to identify other factors that may influence the practices of nurses on HAI prevention and control because knowledge does not solely improve or worsen actual practices. Identified facilitating factors should be supported, and hindering factors should be addressed. Further recommendations based on the study results include strengthening existing programs and policies, and developing accessible materials to improve the present practices of nurses.

Background: Healthcare-acquired infections (HAIs) are adverse events brought about by non-compliance of the healthcare staff to set of infection prevention and control (IPC) standards. Consequently, additional medical costs, increased mortality and morbidity rates, and decreased quality of life among patients can happen. As valuable players in preventing and controlling HAIs, nurses must have good knowledge and strict compliance with infection control; however, recent evidence suggests that nurses may need more knowledge or better integration into practice. Nurses' degree of knowledge and practice in preventing and controlling HAIs and factors influencing them should be determined to provide solutions appropriately. Objectives: The study specifically sought answers to the following questions: (1) What is the level of knowledge of nurses in the prevention and control of HAIs? (2) What is the degree of practice of nurses in the prevention and control of HAIs? (3) Is there a significant relationship between nurses' knowledge level and degree of practice in the prevention and control of HAIs? (4) What are the facilitating and hindering factors that affect nurses' practice in the prevention and control of HAIs? Methods: The study utilized a quantitative descriptive correlational design. The study was conducted from May to June 2023 at a private tertiary hospital in Baguio City. The study included 128 nurses who fit the inclusion criteria. The respondents were asked to answer three questionnaires, and the data were statistically treated using mean, Spearman Rank correlation, frequency, percentage, and rank distribution. Results: The study found that nurses possess good knowledge and a suboptimal degree of practice in preventing and controlling HAIs. The results showed that no significant relationship existed between nurses' knowledge level and degree of practice in preventing and controlling HAIs. Perceived personal benefits and organizational encouragement were seen to primarily facilitate the prevention and control practices of nurses. The primary hindrance identified was workload due to staff shortage, poor dissemination of guidelines, and personal discomfort associated with the use of PPE. Conclusions A good level of knowledge is a derivative of learnings obtained through various educational modalities and these strategies are considered effective means of knowledge formulation. However, created knowledge without actual application into practice results in overuse of unhelpful interventions. To avoid the unnecessary effects of ineffective knowledge translation, a multifactorial consideration is necessary to identify other factors that may influence the practices of nurses on HAI prevention and control because knowledge does not solely improve or worsen actual practices. Identified facilitating factors should be supported, and hindering factors should be addressed. Further recommendations based on the study results include strengthening existing programs and policies, and developing accessible materials to improve the present practices of nurses.
Infection Control

This study aimed to explore key quality control factors that affected the prognosis of intensive care unit (ICU) patients in Chinese mainland over six years (2015-2020). The data for this study were from 31 provincial and municipal hospitals (3425 hospital ICUs) and included 2 110 685 ICU patients, for a total of 27 607 376 ICU hospitalization days. We found that 15 initially established quality control indicators were good predictors of patient prognosis, including percentage of ICU patients out of all inpatients (%), percentage of ICU bed occupancy of total inpatient bed occupancy (%), percentage of all ICU inpatients with an APACHE II score ⩾15 (%), three-hour (surviving sepsis campaign) SSC bundle compliance (%), six-hour SSC bundle compliance (%), rate of microbe detection before antibiotics (%), percentage of drug deep venous thrombosis (DVT) prophylaxis (%), percentage of unplanned endotracheal extubations (%), percentage of patients reintubated within 48 hours (%), unplanned transfers to the ICU (%), 48-h ICU readmission rate (%), ventilator associated pneumonia (VAP) (per 1000 ventilator days), catheter related blood stream infection (CRBSI) (per 1000 catheter days), catheter-associated urinary tract infections (CAUTI) (per 1000 catheter days), in-hospital mortality (%). When exploratory factor analysis was applied, the 15 indicators were divided into 6 core elements that varied in weight regarding quality evaluation: nosocomial infection management (21.35%), compliance with the Surviving Sepsis Campaign guidelines (17.97%), ICU resources (17.46%), airway management (15.53%), prevention of deep-vein thrombosis (14.07%), and severity of patient condition (13.61%). Based on the different weights of the core elements associated with the 15 indicators, we developed an integrated quality scoring system defined as F score=21.35%xnosocomial infection management + 17.97%xcompliance with SSC guidelines + 17.46%×ICU resources + 15.53%×airway management + 14.07%×DVT prevention + 13.61%×severity of patient condition. This evidence-based quality scoring system will help in assessing the key elements of quality management and establish a foundation for further optimization of the quality control indicator system.
Humans ; China/epidemiology* ; Cross Infection/epidemiology* ; Intensive Care Units/statistics & numerical data* ; Quality Control ; Quality Indicators, Health Care/statistics & numerical data* ; Sepsis/therapy* ; East Asian People/statistics & numerical data*

PURPOSE: Nosocomial infection is a major threat to the health care system and patient welfare. After the pandemic, new protocols were established in hospitals and communities to protect against the transmission of COVID-19, which may have changed the incidence of nosocomial transmission. This study was conducted to compare the incidence of nosocomial infection before and after the COVID-19 pandemic. METHODS: This was a retrospective cohort study performed on trauma patients who were admitted, from May 22, 2018 to November 22, 2021, to the largest level-1 trauma center in Shiraz, Iran (Shahid Rajaei Trauma Hospital). All the trauma patients over 15 years old admitted during the study time were included in this study. Individuals who were declared dead upon arrival were excluded. Patients were evaluated in 2 periods: before the pandemic (May 22, 2018 - February 19, 2020) and after the pandemic (February 19, 2020 - November 22, 2021). Patients were assessed based on demographic information (age, gender, length of hospital stay, and patient outcome), the occurrence of hospital infection, and the type of infection. The analysis was done using SPSS version 25. RESULTS: Overall, 60,561 patients were admitted, with a mean age of 40 years. Nosocomial infection was diagnosed in 4.00% (n = 2423) of all admitted patients. The incidence rate of post-COVID-19 hospital-acquired infections decreased by 16.28% (p < 0.001) when compared to before the pandemic; in contrast, surgical site infection (p < 0.001) and urinary tract infection (p = 0.043) were responsible for this change, while hospital-acquired pneumonia (p = 0.568) and bloodstream infection (p = 0.156) were not significantly different. Overall mortality was 1.79%, while 28.52% of all patients with nosocomial infections died. During the pandemic, there was a 25.78% increase (p < 0.001) in the overall incidence rate of mortality, which was also observed among patients with nosocomial infections (17.84%). CONCLUSION The incidence of nosocomial infection has decreased during the pandemic, possibly due to the use of more personal protective equipment and modified protocols after the outbreak. This also explains the difference in the change in incidence rates of nosocomial infection subtypes.
Humans ; Adult ; Adolescent ; Cross Infection/prevention & control* ; Incidence ; Retrospective Studies ; COVID-19/epidemiology* ; Pandemics/prevention & control* ; Prospective Studies ; Infection Control

Post-and-core crown is one of the most common forms of restoration of tooth after root canal therapy (RCT). Infection control is the core objective of RCT, which is usually well realized by endodontists. However, many prosthodontists often neglect the infection control of the tooth and the maintenance of the curative effect of RCT during the process of post-and-core crown, which may lead to the failure of the final restoration. The concept of integrated crown-root treatment advocated recently requires clinicians to consider the RCT and final restoration as a whole, rather than simply divided into two parts-endodontic treatment and restorative treatment. As the core content of integrated crown-root treatment, infection control should be taken seriously by clinicians and implemented throughout the whole treatment process, especially in the restorative treatment that is easily overlooked after RCT. Therefore, this article describes the infection control of post-and-core crown restoration, classifies the tooth requiring post-and-core crown restoration, and puts forward the measures of infection control before and during post-and-core crown restoration, in order to provide reference and guidance for clinical practice.
Humans ; Crowns ; Tooth Crown ; Post and Core Technique ; Root Canal Therapy ; Infection Control ; Tooth Fractures

Respiratory infectious diseases (RID) are the major public health problems threatening the people's lives and health.Infection control (IC) is one of the effective tools to contain the occurrence and spread of RID.We collected the articles and data on IC published since January 1,2018 and summarized the achievements,problems,and challenges of IC from administrative control,management control,environment and engineering control,and personal protection in the medical institutions and public places in China.The efforts for IC vary in different regions and medical institutions of different levels.There are still links to be improved for IC from administrative control,management control,environment and engineering control,and personal protection,especially in community-level medical institutions and public areas.It is urgent to strengthen the implementation of IC policies and conduct IC precisely according to local situations.We proposed the following suggestions.First,the existing IC products and tools should be applied to precisely implement the IC measures;second,modern high technology should be employed to develop efficient and convenient IC products and tools;finally,a digital or intelligent IC platform should be built for monitoring infections,so as to contain the occurrence and spread of RID.
Humans ; COVID-19 ; Infection Control ; Communicable Diseases ; China/epidemiology*

The complete picture regarding transmission modes of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is unknown. This review summarises the available evidence on its transmission modes, our preliminary research findings and implications for infection control policy, and outlines future research directions. Environmental contamination has been reported in hospital settings occupied by infected patients, and is higher in the first week of illness. Transmission via environmental surfaces or fomites is likely, but decontamination protocols are effective in minimising this risk. The extent of airborne transmission is also unclear. While several studies have detected SARS-CoV-2 ribonucleic acid in air samples, none has isolated viable virus in culture. Transmission likely lies on a spectrum between droplet and airborne transmission, depending on the patient, disease and environmental factors. Singapore's current personal protective equipment and isolation protocols are sufficient to manage this risk.
COVID-19 ; Hospitals ; Humans ; Infection Control/methods* ; Personal Protective Equipment ; SARS-CoV-2

INTRODUCTION: Healthcare workers (HCWs) are a critical resource in the effort to control the COVID-19 pandemic. They are also a sentinel surveillance population whose clinical status reflects the effectiveness of the hospital's infection prevention measures in the pandemic. METHODS: This was a retrospective cohort study conducted in Singapore General Hospital (SGH), a 1,822-bed tertiary hospital. Participants were all HCWs working in SGH during the study period. HCW protection measures included clinical workflows and personal protective equipment developed and adapted to minimise the risk of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) transmission. HCW monitoring comprised staff contact logs in high-risk locations, twice-daily temperature monitoring, assessment of HCWs with acute respiratory illnesses (ARIs) in the staff clinic and, in the event of an exposure, extensive contact tracing, detailed risk assessment and risk-based interventions. HCW surveillance utilised monitoring data and ARI presentations and outcomes. RESULTS: In the ten-week period between 6 January 2020 and 16 March 2020, 333 (17.1%) of 1,946 HCWs at risk of occupational COVID-19 presented with ARI. 32 (9.6%) screened negative for SARS-CoV-2 from throat swabs. Five other HCWs developed COVID-19 attributed to non-clinical exposures. From the nine COVID-19 exposure episodes investigated, 189 HCW contacts were identified, of whom 68 (36.2%) were placed on quarantine and remained well. CONCLUSION Early in an emerging infectious disease outbreak, close monitoring of frontline HCWs is essential in ascertaining the effectiveness of infection prevention measures. HCWs are at risk of community disease acquisition and should be monitored and managed to prevent onward transmission.
Humans ; COVID-19/epidemiology* ; Pandemics/prevention & control* ; SARS-CoV-2 ; Infectious Disease Transmission, Patient-to-Professional/prevention & control* ; Sentinel Surveillance ; Retrospective Studies ; Infection Control ; Health Personnel

INTRODUCTION: This review aims to examine asthma management during the COVID-19 pandemic. METHOD: Relevant recommendations and articles were identified by respiratory professional societies and PubMed search using the terms "asthma" and "COVID-19", and examined for relevance and inclusion in this study. RESULTS: Recommendations for the management of asthma have remained similar but are now supported by new evidence between the years 2020 and 2022. Patients with well-controlled, mild-to-moderate asthma are unlikely to be at increased risk of acquiring COVID-19 or having worse outcomes from COVID-19. All asthma patients should receive COVID-19 vaccination. Spirometry can be performed with the usual strict infection control procedures unless there is a suspicion of COVID-19. Mask-wearing and other health measures remain important for asthma patients. CONCLUSION While previous recommendations were largely based on expert opinion, the tremendous amount of literature published since the pandemic first emerged 2 years ago has helped guide respiratory professional bodies to update their recommendations. This study provides a timely review of the various recommendations and can be used to guide healthcare professionals in managing asthma patients, as the world prepares for a future with COVID-19 becoming endemic. The long-term consequences of COVID-19 infection in asthma patients and the ripple effects of COVID-19 remain uncertain and deserve ongoing study.
Adult ; Humans ; COVID-19 ; Pandemics/prevention & control* ; COVID-19 Vaccines ; Asthma/epidemiology* ; Infection Control

Flavivirus ; Humans ; Immunity ; Vaccines ; Zika Virus ; Zika Virus Infection/prevention & control*