Abstract
BackgroundDuring the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, exploring factors influencing nosocomial infection among frontline nurses may provide evidence to optimize prevention strategies in hospitals.MethodA large-scale online questionnaire survey of nurses’ state-trait anxiety, job burnout, risk perception, workplace safety perception, knowledge about nosocomial infection, and preventive practices was conducted with 2795 frontline nurses working in the COVID-19 wards of six hospitals in Hubei Province, China, from February 1 to April 1, 2020. The questionnaire data were analyzed using the structural equation modeling (SEM) method to reveal the mechanisms influencing nurses’ risk perception and preventive practices related to nosocomial COVID-19 infection.ResultsA model of the factors that influence nurses’ risk perception and preventive practices regarding nosocomial COVID-19 infection was established. The model verified hypotheses regarding the impact of nurses’ risk perception and preventive practices. Notably, the hypothesis that risk perception has an impact on nurses’ preventive practices regarding nosocomial infection is not valid. Moreover, different marital and educational conditions are associated with significant differences in the impact of state anxiety on the execution of preventive practices, the impact of workplace safety perceptions on risk perception, and the impact of workplace safety perceptions on the execution of preventive practices. The effect of state anxiety on preventive practices differed significantly with different durations of work experience.ConclusionsAccording to the results of the influencing factor model, promoting the quality of training on nosocomial infection, meliorating workplace safety, and conducting timely and effective psychological interventions would aid in improving nurses’ preventive practices. Meliorating workplace safety and easing state anxiety would be beneficial to reduce nurses’ risk perception. These strategies are conducive to the optimization of policies for preventing nosocomial COVID-19 infections and similar infectious diseases.
Highlights
During the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, exploring factors influencing nosocomial infection among frontline nurses may provide evidence to optimize prevention strategies in hospitals
Seven influencing factors or lead variables of risk perception and preventive practice are included in the proposed model: workplace safety perception (WSP); knowledge of preventing nosocomial infection (KPNI); psychological anxiety, including state anxiety (SAI) and trait anxiety (TAI); job burnout, including emotional exhaustion (EME) and depersonalization (DEP); and stressors (STRs)
We found that nurses have strictly complied with the preventive requirements and have constantly adjusted their preventive practices according to their own circumstances and actual care needs
Summary
During the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, exploring factors influencing nosocomial infection among frontline nurses may provide evidence to optimize prevention strategies in hospitals. The existing clinically applied anti-coronavirus drugs mainly include those used against Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS), severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), Ebola virus and influenza virus, such as favipiravir, ribavirin, lopinavir/ritonavir, remdesivir, and arbidol, which are still in clinical trials. The clinical efficacy of these drugs for patients with severe COVID19 needs to be clinically verified, and their adverse effects must be closely monitored [4, 5]. The safety and effectiveness of several new coronavirus vaccines have been verified by large-scale clinical trials, such as the BNT162b2 mRNA COVID-19 vaccine [11], mRNA-1273 SARS-CoV-2 vaccine [12], AZD1222 vaccine [13], and CoronaVac vaccine [14]. Governments have initiated large-scale immunization programs, which is an important step towards the control and termination of the epidemic
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