Abstract

Barriers to the Adoption of Infection Prevention Control (IPC) Guidelines among Health Care Workers at Saidu Group of Teaching Hospital (SGTH), SWAT - A Cross Sectional Study

Background: The adoption of infection prevention and control guidelines is crucial for the safety of healthcare workers and patients. However, healthcare workers often face several barriers in implementing these guidelines, such as lack of knowledge, inadequate training, limited resources, cultural and language differences, and attitudes and beliefs. These barriers can negatively impact the implementation of effective infection prevention and control measures, leading to increased healthcare-associated infections. It is imperative to identify and address these barriers to promote the adoption of infection prevention and control guidelines in healthcare settings. Methods: We conduct a descriptive cross-sectional study with a sample size of 228 in Saidu Group of Teaching Hospital (SGTH) of Swat, Pakistan, from October 2022 to November 2022 to assess the barriers to healthcare workers in adopting IPC guidelines. Data were collected through a self-structured questionnaire on socio-demographics, hand hygiene practices, use of PPE, NSI reporting, disinfection of injection sites and waste disposal. Non-probability consecutive sampling was used to select participants. Results: According to the study, the main barriers to healthcare workers not adopting IPC guidelines were a lack of formal training in IPC (66.7%), lack of time and increased workload (6.1%), lack of availability of PPE (21.1%), lack of interest (5.3%), discomfort with PPE (1.8%), lack of knowledge on proper disposal of used needles (74.1%), lack of disinfectants (10.5%), and lack of spill kits in wards/labs (45.2%). Additionally, a significant proportion of healthcare workers did not report needle stick injuries (20.2%) and did not take post-exposure prophylaxis (77.6%). Conclusion and Recommendations: The study findings indicate that a significant proportion of healthcare workers lack formal training in Infection Prevention and Control (IPC), and there are gaps in practices related to hand hygiene, proper use of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), needle stick injury reporting, post-exposure prophylaxis, proper disposal of used needles, surface disinfection, and blood spill management. The study suggests the need for increased IPC training for healthcare workers, improved availability and accessibility of PPE, implementation of a robust needle stick injury reporting system, promotion of postexposure prophylaxis utilization, enhanced education on proper disposal of used needles, ensuring adequate disinfection of surfaces, provision of spill kits in wards/labs, and comprehensive training in hospital waste management program for healthcare workers

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