Jordanian ICU registered nurses: Are they compliant with standard infection control practices?

2^nd International Conference on Nursing & Healthcare

November 17-19, 2014 DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Chicago-North Shore Conference Center, USA

Omar AL-Rawajfah

Scientific Tracks Abstracts: J Nurs Care

Abstract :

Background: Studies demonstrated that prevalence of Healthcare Associated Infections (HCAIs) in intensive care units (ICUs) are much higher than other units. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control recommends periodic assessment of Infection control (IC) practices for healthcare workers as an effective strategy to control HCAIs. This study evaluated IC practices among Jordanian staff nurses working in critical care areas. Methods: This cross-sectional study used a stratified, cluster random sampling technique. The nationally representative sample consisted of critical care RNs from all major healthcare service providers and from all geographical areas in Jordan. The ICPractices Tool (ICPT) is a reliable (Cronbach alp=0.88) self-report instrument that was used for this study. Results: A total of 21 hospitals participated in the study, of which, 8 were governmental, 7 military, 4 private, and 2 universityaffiliated. The final sample consisted of 247 RNs from 56 critical care units. Of the total sample, 51% were female with a mean age of 28.5 years (SD=5.2). The majority of the sample (84.6%) held a BSN degree and 54.7% worked in general ICUs. The overall IC practice score ranged from 78 to 145 (maximum=145) with a mean score of 122.6 (SD=13.2). Of the total sample, 25.5% scored below the 75th percentile, (weakly compliant on the scale compliance categories). Nurses who reported that they had been trained about IC procedures in their hospital scored higher on the IC practice scale (M =124.3, SD=12.3) than nurses who reported that they never received any IC training in the hospital (M=117.3, SD=14.6, p<0.001). Moreover, nurses who reported that they received IC training outside their hospital demonstrated higher scores (M=126.2, SD=11.7) than those who never received such training (M=121.8, SD=13.4, p<0.05). Conclusion: This study demonstrated the importance of staff education as an effective method to improve IC practice in ICU settings. Also, this study demonstrated the importance of availability of IC resources (e.g. hand washing facilities, protective equipment) to enhance safe IC practice in critical care settings.

Biography :

AL-Rawajfah has completed his PhD in 2007 from University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. He served as Dean of Nursing of the Faculty of nursing at Al Al-Bayt university-Jordan for the past 4 years. Dr. AL-Rawajfah?s research area is mainly in infection control. He as published many papers in reputed journals and serve as expert reviewer of several international journals. Dr. AL-Rawajfah presented his research work in different international conferences and invited as speaker in the field of infection control.