Can education and training for domestic staff increase awareness of infection control practices and improve cleanliness within hospitals?

Abstract

Patients and the public are rightly concerned about cleanliness in hospitals. In response to these concerns a review of current infection prevention and control education and training for domestic staff was investigated. This review elicited a project that analysed whether education and training for domestic staff can increase awareness of infection control practices and improve cleanliness. A series of methods were introduced to gather information pre- and post-training. The project highlighted significant awareness deficiencies of the basic principles of infection prevention and control; it also showed that many domestic staff received little introduction to infection prevention and control practices when starting employment and updates were seldom followed up. The introduction of the Infection Prevention and Control Workbook for Domestic Staff improved domestic staff awareness of infection prevention and control practices on the wards. The workbook was tailored to the particular working practices of the organisation and the infection prevention and control team felt the workbooks were a great way to learn. This project highlighted that only by providing education and training in infection prevention and control can we be assured that domestic staff deliver a service that is safe and correct.