Abstract
BackgroundInfection control link nurse programs show considerable variation. We report how Dutch link nurse programs are organized, how they progress, and how contextual factors may play a role in the execution of these programs.MethodsThis mixed-methods study combined a survey and semi-structured interviews with infection control practitioners, based on items of the Template for Intervention Description and Replication (TIDieR) checklist.ResultsThe Netherlands has 74 hospitals; 72 infection control practitioners from 72 different hospitals participated in the survey. Four of these infection control practitioners participated in interviews. A link nurse program was present in 67% of the hospitals; responsibility for 76% of these programs lied solely with the infection prevention and control team. The core component of most programs (90%) was education. Programs that included education on infection prevention topics and training in implementation skills were perceived as more effective than programs without such education or programs where education included only infection prevention topics.The interviews illustrated that these programs were initiated by the infection prevention team with the intention to collaborate with other departments to improve practice. Content for these programs was created at the time of their implementation. Infection control practitioners varied in their ability to express program goals and to engage experts and key stakeholders.ConclusionsInfection control link nurse programs vary in content and in set up. Programs with a clear educational content are viewed as more successful by the infection control practitioners that implement these programs.
Highlights
Healthcare-associated infections are the most frequent adverse event for patients admitted to hospitals, and an important cause of morbidity and mortality [1, 2]
These studies do not describe their infection control link nurses (ICLN) program in detail nor elaborate on the contextual factors that may have contributed to these improvements
Examining the variation of existing ICLN programs, the assessment of contextual factors that have led to this variation and the evaluation of these programs can reveal opportunities to improve their value and to reduce their inefficiencies
Summary
Healthcare-associated infections are the most frequent adverse event for patients admitted to hospitals, and an important cause of morbidity and mortality [1, 2]. Implementation of Review of the literature on ICLN show that link nurse programs have been implemented all over the world The majority of this literature originates from the United Kingdom and describes variation in how ICLN programs are Dekker et al Antimicrobial Resistance and Infection Control (2020) 9:42 organized and implemented [6]. The few studies that have evaluated effectiveness of these programs revealed that compliance with hand hygiene guidelines and incidence of MRSA infections improve when ICLN are active [9, 10] These studies do not describe their ICLN program in detail nor elaborate on the contextual factors that may have contributed to these improvements. We report how Dutch link nurse programs are organized, how they progress, and how contextual factors may play a role in the execution of these programs
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