Infection Control Prevention Practices on Pulmonary TB Transmission among Health Care Personnel of Selected Hospital in India
LC10-LC15
Correspondence
Miss Karishma Khaund,
Mainpal College of Nursing, Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Udupi-576104, Karnataka, India.
E-mail: Khaundkarishma@gmail.com
Introduction: Fundamental infection control practices in India revolve around biomedical waste management and disposal of sharps; while Airborne Infection Control (AIC) measures are mostly absent from the protocol of health care facilities.
Aim: To assess infection control practices that a health care personnel follows to prevent transmission of Tuberculosis (TB) and to evaluate the resources and facilities available in the area and also to identify the factors which helps to improve the practices.
Materials and Methods: A mixed methodological study was carried out to assess the infection control practices for prevention of pulmonary TB. This study was conducted among 82 health care personnel between 2nd January 2017 and 4th February 2017. Health care personnel (20-35 years) and people who worked in TB units were recruited from a multi-specialty tertiary care hospital. An observation checklist on infection control practices was developed to assess the preventive practices followed by acknowledge questionnaire. Complete enumerated sampling was used for observing the practices. A focus group discussion was conducted after analysing the Survey findings among health care personnel by purposive sampling. Thematic analysis was used to analyse and identify the emerging themes.
Results: The mean age of the participants was 25.76±5.968 years. Non-compliance was found in infection control practices among health care personnel in preventing TB transmission. A 58.5% of the participants have good knowledge, 74.1% had answered correctly in the area of personal protective equipment. Intermittent interruption of supply (e.g., N95 masks), lack of knowledge, lack of adherence to infection control practices and lack of awareness by the patients were found to be the factors for non-compliance.
Conclusion: This study emphasizes the challenges faced in infection control preventive practices in a resource limited countries and how collective efforts may change and strengthen the practices using available resources.