Abstract
Hospitals in developed countries for more than 170 years have been studying and validating a variety of methods for staff motivation: education at work, distributed leaflets, seminars and lectures, provided the necessary equipment and personal protective equipment as well as surveillance and control provided by the hospital epidemiological service. No less important role nurses play in the motivation of psychological factors, such as attitudes, habits, stress and tolerance. Aim – to explore the motivating factors of infection control in nurse practice. The study used qualitative research method – structured interview (n = 36) and a quantitative study – questionnaires (n = 230). Questionnaires engaged 98 intensive care nurses and 132 surgical nurses. Results – most of the nurses (62.2%) regularly improved their knowledge of infection control. Infection control rules in their work regularly used 86.1% of respondents, while 13.9% of respondents irregularly applied infection control within the patient care process, posing a threat to their own health as well as to patient's health. Nurses noted several motivating factors for infection control, for example, the importance of the rules in patient care (94.3%), availability of infection control rules in the ward (92.6%), regular supervision provided by head nurse (84.8%), positive attitude of colleagues (80.4%), availability of the necessary equipment and personal protective equipment, understandable and simple rules for infection control, sufficient time for infection control in patient care, adequate infection control and surveillance in high risk units, provided by the hospital epidemiological service. The most frequently mentioned reasons for breaking the infection control rules were increased workload and burnout, as well as the lack of understanding of the importance of infection control in patients’ health maintenance and inappropriate attitude. Conclusions – the study suggests that in high-risk units there are different motivating factors of infection control, such as the necessary equipment and personal protective equipment, comprehensibility and accessibility of infection control rules, infection control and surveillance provided by the hospital epidemiological service. And at the same time, there are factors that disturb nurses’ motivation, such as an increased workload, lack of awareness of infection control in practice and inappropriate attitude.
Highlights
The increase of nosocomial infections (NI), caused by resistant microorganisms, has nowadays drawn attention to the hospital environment
The nurse, as the administrator of health care, plays an essential role in elimination of nosocomial infections related to invasive devices, and infection control is the main precondition for qualitative patient care
Infection control rules developed in high-risk units in their work regularly used 198 respondents (86.1%), while 13.9% (32/230) of respondents irregularly introduced infection control within the patient care process, posing a threat to their own health and to the patient’s health
Summary
The increase of nosocomial infections (NI), caused by resistant microorganisms, has nowadays drawn attention to the hospital environment. In hospitals, more and more attention is paid to such infection control measures as hand hygiene, patients’ isolation and threshold precautions, decontamination of objects and equipment, cautious use of antibiotics, as well as decontamination of the environment, which allows medical staff timely to find out and prevent spread of causative agents of an infection. It helps to increase the effectiveness of patient care remarkably and to decrease the treatment costs [3, 4]. The nurse, as the administrator of health care, plays an essential role in elimination of nosocomial infections related to invasive devices, and infection control is the main precondition for qualitative patient care
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