Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus is one of the important pathogens of healthcare-associated infections. In order to prevent and control the transmission of the drug-resistant organism in healthcare facilities, the Healthcare Infection Society and the Infection Prevention Society jointly conducted the guidelines for the prevention and control of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus in 2021. This article introduces the guide from the background, preparation process, main prevention and control measures and further studies, and compares the guidelines with the current prevention and control measures in China, so as to provide a methodological reference for preparation of the guide for domestic infection prevention and control practitioners, and provide evidence-based prevention and control strategies for clinical practice.
Objective To investigate the current status of occupational environment support, occupational satisfaction, and job competence of hospital infection prevention and control personnel, and to explore the mediating effect of occupational satisfaction on the relationship between occupational environment support and job competence, in order to provide reference and guidance for effectively improving the job competence of hospital infection prevention and control personnel. Methods A survey questionnaire was distributed to various levels and types of medical institutions in Shanghai through the platform of the Shanghai Hospital Infection Quality Control Center. The questionnaire included the Occupational Environment Support Scale, Occupational Satisfaction Scale, and Job Competency Assessment Scale. The mediating effect of occupational satisfaction on the relationship between occupational environment support and job competency of hospital infection prevention and control personnel was analyzed. Results A total of 1027 hospital infection prevention and control personnel from 728 medical institutions participated in this survey, with 989 valid questionnaires and an effective response rate of 96.3%. There were statistically significant differences in the job competency scores of hospital infection prevention and control personnel based on gender, years of experience in infection control work, professional background, highest education level, professional title, job nature, type of medical institution, and annual income (P<0.05). The total score of job competence for hospital infection prevention and control personnel was 301.0 (267.5, 326.0), the total score of occupational environment support was 21.44±3.66, and the total score of occupational satisfaction was 19.25±2.78. The occupational environment support of hospital infection prevention and control personnel was positively correlated with occupational satisfaction and job competence (r=0.373, 0.339; P<0.001), and occupational satisfaction was positively correlated with occupational environment support (r=0.547, P<0.001). The mediating effect of job satisfaction on the occupational environment support and job competence was 0.085, accounting for 22.8% of the total effect. Conclusion Occupational satisfaction partially mediates the relationship between occupational environment support and job competence, and the mediating effect is significant.
Objective To evaluate the current status of human resources in healthcare-associated infection prevention and control (infection control) in Jiangxi Province, and explore the impact of emergency public health events on the human resources of infection control professionals in various levels and types of medical institutions. Methods From October 1st to 31st, 2023, questionnaire and on-site interviews were conducted to investigate the human resources situation of infection control professionals in various levels and types of medical institutions in Jiangxi Province. Three stages were selected for the investigation: before the outbreak of COVID-19 (before the event, December 2019), during the event (June 2022), and after the transition of COVID-19 (after the event, June 2023), focusing on the characteristics of human resources between before the event and after the event by the comparative analysis. Results Finally, 289 medical institutions were included. There was a statistically significant difference in the number of infection control professionals in medical institutions among 2019, 2022, and 2023 (χ2=189.677, P<0.001). The number of infection control professionals in 2019 was lower than that in 2022 (P<0.001) and 2023 (P<0.001), but there was no statistically significant difference between 2022 and 2023 (P=0.242). The number of infection control professionals per thousand beds in 2019, 2022, and 2023 was 4.40, 6.16, and 5.76, respectively. There was no statistically significant difference between 2019 and 2023 in terms of professional titles, gender, educational level, or professional background (P>0.05). Conclusion Emergency public health events have promoted the increase in the number of infection control professionals, but there is no statistical significance in the professional titles, educational level, or professional background of infection control professionals.
Running an infection control regular meeting is an effective way to develop and improve the communication between the infection control team and clinical units. This paper introduces the infection control regular monthly meeting which is held in the last week of each month in a newly-opened branch hospital of a university teaching hospital in China. Through collecting the issues for discussion beforehand, feeding back the surveillance data of last month including nosocomial infection, hand hygiene, multidrug-resistant organisms, occupational exposure, and medical waste, discussing the current infection control issues from each ward and trying to solve them together, and delivering and sharing new knowledge, skills, and information in terms of infection control, the monthly meeting achieves remarkable successes in the aspects of promoting the hospital infection control-related cultural construction, enhancing the supervision and implementation of infection control measures, and running new projects on hospital infection management, etc. Infection control regular monthly meeting builds up a study and work platform, promotes the multidisciplinary and multi-department communication and collaboration, and improves the quality of infection control eventually.
When a clustered coronavirus disease 2019 epidemic occurs, how to prevent and control hospital infection is a challenge faced by each medical institution. Under the normalization situation, building an effective prevention and control system is the premise and foundation for medical institutions to effectively prevent and control infection when dealing with clustered epidemics. According to the principles of control theory, medical institutions should quickly switch to an emergency state, and effectively deal with the external and internal infection risks brought by clustered epidemics by strengthening source control measures, engineering control measures, management control measures and personal protection measures. This article summarizes the experience of handling clustered outbreaks in medical institutions in the prevention and control of coronavirus disease 2019, and aims to provide a reference for medical institutions to take effective prevention and control measures when dealing with clustered outbreaks.
Objective To survey the current situation of the sharp injury in medical workers, and to provide scientific evidence for the prevention and protection of sharp injury. Methods Through applying the questionnaire of sharp injuries designed by Zhongshan Hospital, Shanghai Fudan University, 10% of the workers in all departments of West China Hospital of Sichuan University were selected as respondents according to their job categories. The main contents of the survey included the general information of respondents, reporting after sharp injuries, training participation, and the exposure sources, operations, premises and equipments related to sharp injuries over the past one year.Results Of 840 questionnaires distributed, 100% were valid. The ratio of male was 23% while the female was 72%. There were 50.20% of all respondents who once got injured, and 75% of the respondents having the history of sharp injury worked less than 10 years. The nurses, house keepers and physicians were in the top three positions of suffering from sharp injury; and the operating room was ranked as the highest risk department for sharp injuries. The known haematogenous exposure sources were 69 cases of hepatitis B, 19 syphilis, 6 hepatitis C, and 3 HIV. There were 62% of the respondents who had ever attended related training, and only 11.61% of the injured respondents reported their sharp injuries. Conclusion The incidence rate of the sharp injury is high, but the report rate is low. The operating room is the high risk department, and nurses, house keepers, and physicians are the high risk population for sharp injuries. The prevention and protection and training for sharp injury in target departments and population should be strengthened.
In recent years, the prevalence of carbapenem-resistant Enterobacterales (CRE) has been remarkably increasing. Infections caused by CRE have significantly increased the burden on patients both medically and economically, and the CRE often leads to outbreaks of healthcare-associated infections. It has now become a global public health concern. Consequently, international organizations and academic societies/associations, including the World Health Organization, have developed corresponding prevention and control guidelines. This article provides a detailed introduction to the background, principles, key understandings, and implementation recommendations of China’s Standard for Prevention and Control of Carbapenem-resistant Enterobacterales (WS/T 826－2023). The aim is to enhance the recognition of healthcare workers and medical administrators to prevent and control CRE and to provide detailed technical guidance for healthcare facilities in responding to the spread of CRE, thus ensuring medical quality and patient safety.
Objective To understand the influence of organisational support and professional identity of hospital infection prevention and control (HIPC) practitioner in public hospitals. Methods HIPC practitioner of the public medical institutions secondary level and above in Neijiang City, Sichuan Province were used as the research object. A questionnaire survey was used to analyze their organizational support and professional identity in May 2022, to compare the differences in organizational support and professional identity among HIPC practitioner with different positions, working ages, and majors, and analyze the correlation between organizational support and professional identity among HIPC practitioner. Results A total of 90 valid questionnaires were retrieved from investigation. The average scores for organizational support and professional identity among HIPC practitioner were (3.409±0.625) and (2.518±0.504) points. Among them, the organizational support of intermediate professional title personnel [(3.155±0.785) points], personnel with 5-10 years of service [(3.071±0.696) points], and clinical physicians [(3.342±0.860) points] were the lowest; the professional identity of personnel with intermediate professional titles [(2.357±0.477) points], those with more than 10 years of service[(2.431±0.454) points], and other professionals [(2.471±0.260) points] were the lowest. The Pearson correlation analysis results showed that there was a positive correlation between organizational support and professional identity (r=0.490, P<0.05), self-identity and work support (r=0.364, P<0.05), and environmental identity and relationship interests (r=0.698, P<0.05). Conclusions Due to the low level of organizational support, there is a decrease in professional identity and significant job burnout, which in turn leads to an increase in the turnover rate of infection control professionals. Therefore, it is necessary to enhance the sense of organizational support for specialized personnel in infection control to promote their professional identity and stabilize the infection control team. Suggest providing necessary support at the organizational level and self-improvement at the individual level.
Healthcare-associated infections pose a significant challenge to healthcare institutions, severely threatening healthcare quality and patient safety. To enhance the quality of infection prevention and control across healthcare facilities at all levels, promote standardization, and drive continuous quality improvement, quality control centers for infection prevention and control have been established nationwide and have played a crucial role. This article conducts an in-depth analysis of the functions, current development status, and key challenges faced by these quality control centers throughout their evolution, aiming to provide insights for future advancements in quality control systems.
World Health Organization (WHO) published Core Competencies of Infection Prevention and Control Practitioners in 2020. This WHO document is a very useful guide for implementing the core competencies among infection prevention and control professionals (IPCPs). It is useful for standardisation of the competencies in the field of infection control through relevant formal training, practicum and assessment. This paper explains the framework of the WHO-list of core competencies in relation to the role and responsibilities of IPCPs. The value of introducing core competencies to IPCPs is really vital in the recognition of infection prevention and control as a medical specialty field. The IPCPs core competencies is also an essential guide for practitioners to advance in their professional and career development from novice to expert in the infection prevention and control field.