Infection control standards in burn unit

ABSTRACT

Infection remains the leading cause of morbidity in burn patients. Accordingly, it was important to investigate the performance of health team members of burn Units and develop control standards guide, based on their needs. This study aimed at developing infection control standards for a burn unit and to test its applicability and effectiveness. The study was conducted in the burn unit at Ain Shams university hospitals during the period from December to February 2003. An intervention study design with pre-post assessment was used. It included all the available healthcare members working in the designated burn unit, 9 physicians, 19 nurses, and 10 housekeepers, in addition to a convenience sample of 37 burn patients admitted to the Unit, 19 before the program, and 18 after the program. Data were collected using a questionnaire sheet to assess staff knowledge of basic information related to burns and infection control, and an interview sheet to assess the level of knowledge of housekeepers. A nosocomial infection assessment sheet for the burn unit was used to determine the infection rate, and an observation checklist for performance of physicians and nurses, and another one for housekeepers. An infection control standard was developed and validated, and then implemented. Pre-assessment was done, and a post-test was applied to the three categories of healthcare providers. Additionally, the infection rate among the second subgroup of 18 patients was estimated. Nurses' and physicians' knowledge and performance have statistically significantly improved in almost all tested areas. As for housekeepers, pre-standard scores were generally high, and have statistically significantly improved in all tested areas at post-test. This was also noticed as regards their performance. Lastly, statistically significant decreases in the number of cases of nosocomial infection were detected among patients after application of the infection control standard. The most common organism detected among these patients was the pseudomonas. It was concluded that the implementation of infection control standards iii a burn unit has increased the scores of knowledge and performance among all categories of healthcare providers, with a significant decrease in the incidence of infection of burn areas among patients. It is recommended that written standards of infection control should be available in all burn units. Periodic estimation of infection rates and types is also recommended to monitor the effectiveness of these standards