Continued wearing of gloves: a risk behaviour in patient care.

BACKGROUND: The wearing of gloves is included in the standard principles for preventing healthcare associated infections. A continued wearing of gloves may, however, result in the transmission of organisms instead of preventing infections. Few studies have explored how common it is for surfaces to be touched by potentially contaminated gloves. METHODS: Secondary analysis of field notes from 48 hours of unstructured observations of healthcare personnel's actions during patient care. The new focus was on to what extent healthcare personnel wore gloves that should have been removed or changed, what surfaces were touched by contaminated gloves and what patient-related activities were involved. RESULTS: A continued wearing of gloves occurred in about half of the observed episodes of patient care. On average, 3.3 surfaces were touched by contaminated gloves. The surfaces most frequently touched were 'unused single-use items', 'equipment controls/switches/regulators/flush buttons' and 'bed linen'. This occurred mostly while helping patients with 'personal hygiene', when performing 'test taking' or during procedures involving the operation of medical or other 'equipment'. CONCLUSION: The continued wearing of gloves during patient-related activities carries the risk of organism transmission, as the gloves touch many surfaces. The most critical moments seem to be when the use of gloves is considered essential. A better understanding of the motivators of improper glove-use behaviour is needed to develop interventions that rectify the improper use of gloves.

Risk behaviours for organism transmission in daily care activities: a longitudinal observational case study.

BACKGROUND: To understand healthcare personnel's infection prevention behaviour has long been viewed as a key factor in preventing healthcare-associated infections. Suboptimal hand hygiene compliance and handling of materials, equipment, and surfaces present the main risks for potential organism transmission. Further exploration is needed regarding the role of context-specific conditions and the infection prevention behaviours of healthcare personnel. Such knowledge could enable the development of new intervention strategies for modifying behaviour. AIM: To describe risk behaviours for organism transmission in daily care activities over time. METHODS: Unstructured observations of healthcare personnel carrying out patient-related activities were performed on 12 occasions over a period of 18 months. FINDINGS: Risk behaviours for organism transmission occur frequently in daily care activities and the results show that the occurrence is somewhat stable over time. Interruptions in care activities contribute to an increased risk for organism transmission that could lead to subsequent healthcare-associated infection. CONCLUSION: Interventions aimed at reducing the risks of healthcare-associated infections need to focus on strategies that address: hand hygiene compliance; the handling of materials, equipment, work clothes and surfaces; the effects of interruptions in care activities if they are to alter healthcare personnel's infection prevention behaviour sufficiently.

Suffering from meticillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus: experiences and understandings of colonisation.

The objective was to explore individuals' experiences and understandings of meticillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) colonisation. Thirteen interviews were performed and processed using content analysis, resulting in the theme 'Invaded, insecure and alone'. The participants experienced fears and limitations in everyday life and expressed a need to protect others from contagion. Moreover, they experienced encounters with, and information from, healthcare workers differently: some were content, whereas others were discontent. The described fears, limitations and inadequate professional-patient relationship generated unacceptable distress for MRSA-colonised persons. Thus, the healthcare sector should assume responsibility for managing MRSA, and healthcare workers must improve their professionalism and information skills, so as to better meet MRSA-colonised persons' needs.

Patients' experiences of mediastinitis after coronary artery bypass graft procedure.

Few studies have focussed on patients' experiences of and suffering due to mediastinitis following Coronary Artery by-pass Graft (CABG). Mediastinitis creates a complex and invasive experience for the patient with prolonged hospitalisation, and would be expected to be a significant stressor. The aim of the present study was to capture patients' experiences of the medical and nursing care they received for mediastinitis following CABG. Content analysis revealed three themes with regard to how the patients coped with the stress and threats of mediastinitis and its treatment and how they thought it would influence their future life. A first theme centred on physical and psychological discomfort and impact on autonomy. The staff's medical knowledge and the quality of nursing care as well as the patients' understanding of the situation influenced their experience. A second theme was how patients dealt with perceived danger and stress. Coping strategies such as problem solving, information seeking, dissociation, distraction, minimisation and expression of emotion were used to handle the situations. The third theme comprised the patients' belief that the mediastinitis would not affect the outcome of the CABG procedure, even though their confidence in this was influenced by uncertainty about the rehabilitation process.