Abstract
<i>Introduction:</i> Healthcare-Associated Infection (HAI) has become a major component of the national and international movement to enhance patient safety. Infection is the most common cause of death among burn patients following the burn injury itself. Nurses are at the center of patient care and are the healthcare professionals most likely to intercept errors and prevent harm to patients. <i>The aim</i> of this study was to improve nurses' performance in Burn Units regarding infection control measures with subsequent enhancement of the patients' safety. <i>Subjects and methods:</i> The data were collected using three tools: a self-administered questionnaire, an observation checklist, and a bacteriological culture results form. <i>The results</i> of this study indicated that the percentage of nurses having satisfactory knowledge increased from a pre-intervention level of 17.6%, to a post intervention level of 67.6%. This improvement was statistically significant (p<0.001); as well the percentage of nurses having adequate practice rose from a pre-intervention level of 0.0%, to a post intervention level of 85.3%, with statistically significant difference (p<0.001). There were no any statistically significant correlations between nurses’ knowledge and practice scores before and after the intervention. Moreover, the number of nurses with negative hands' culture results increased from 3(8.8%) to 7(20.6%), but the difference was not statistically significant. The intervention program was identified as the main positive predictor of the change in nurses’ knowledge and practice scores. <i>In conclusion</i>, nurses' knowledge of infection control in burn units and their related practice are very deficient; the educational intervention is successful in improving them. The intervention is also successful in decreasing the Bacillus spp. in nurses’ culture samples. The study recommended different strategies to decrease rates of infection as well as improve patient safety.
Highlights
Healthcare-Associated Infection (HAI) has become a major component of the national and international movement to enhance patient safety
For assessment of bacterial contamination, swabs were taken from nurses' hands and sent for bacteriological culture and the results provided pretest data
Less than half (47.1%) of the nurses had previously attended training courses in infection control, and 11.8% had previously worked in hospitals having infection control units
Summary
Healthcare-Associated Infection (HAI) has become a major component of the national and international movement to enhance patient safety. The aim of this study was to improve nurses' performance in Burn Units regarding infection control measures with subsequent enhancement of the patients' safety. The results of this study indicated that the percentage of nurses having satisfactory knowledge increased from a pre-intervention level of 17.6%, to a post intervention level of 67.6% This improvement was statistically significant (p
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