Adherence of Healthcare Workers Toward the Contact Precaution Guidelines for Patients With Multidrug-Resistant Organisms in a Tertiary Care Hospital

• Main Authors: Mukkapon Punpop, Porntip Malathum, Kumthorn Malathum, มุขพล ปุนภพ, พรทิพย์ มาลาธรรม, กำธร มาลาธรรม
• Other Authors: Mahidol University. Faculty of Medicine Ramathibodi Hospital. Ramathibodi School of Nursing
• Format: Original Article
• Language: English
• Published: 2022
• Subjects: Contact precaution guidelines; Adherence to guidelines; Multidrug-resistant organisms; Healthcare workers; แนวทางการแยกผู้ป่วยแบบสัมผัส; การปฏิบัติตามแนวทางการแยกผู้ป่วย; เชื้อแบคทีเรียที่ดื้อต่อยาปฏิชีวนะหลายขนาน; บุคลากรทีมสุขภาพ
• Online Access: https://repository.li.mahidol.ac.th/handle/123456789/79564
• Institution: Mahidol University

Background: The medical intermediate care unit (MIU) is an open ward had the highest prevalence of multidrug-resistant organisms (MDROs) in Ramathibodi Hospital. Until now, contact precautions have been used to control the MDROs in this unit. Objective: To explore adherence of healthcare workers (HCWs) and their opinions toward the contact precaution guidelines of the hospital. Methods: The random and blinded non-participatory observation for adherence to the contact precaution guidelines was performed. Questionnaires were used to explore opinions of HCWs to the contact precaution guidelines. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze the data. Results: From the observation of 560 opportunities, the adherence rate to gloving was highest, followed by gowning, and hand hygiene (81%, 56%, and 51%, respectively). Forty percent of HCWs performed all steps following the contact precaution guidelines, whereas 14% did not adhere at all. Although the HCWs perceived that prevention of MDROs outbreak is important, they reported the main reasons for non-adherence toward the guidelines as having crowded environment and over workload. Conclusions: The adherence rate of healthcare workers toward the contact precaution guidelines for patients with MDROs did not achieve the optimal goal. Thus, strategies should be planned to encourage HCWs to adhere to the contact precaution guidelines and to minimize the barriers as much as possible to prevent widespread MDROs and to improve patient care quality.