Patients' capability, opportunity, motivation, and perception of inpatient hand hygiene

Empowering patients to prevent healthcare-associated infections

In recent years there has been increasing interest in the empowerment of patients to serve as partners in efforts to prevent healthcare-associated infections. However, patients often have limited awareness of the risk for acquisition and dissemination of healthcare-associated pathogens and have received limited information on how they might participate in infection prevention efforts. This review highlights some of the areas where patient empowerment initiatives in infection control and antimicrobial stewardship may be useful and reviews available evidence that such initiatives can be beneficial. Although patients are the primary focus of these initiatives, inclusion of family members should be considered in many situations because they often play a major role in healthcare decision-making.

Opportunities and barriers for maternal nutrition behavior change: an in-depth qualitative analysis of pregnant women and their families in Uttar Pradesh, India

Background

Maternal undernutrition during pregnancy remains a critical public health issue in India. While evidence-based interventions exist, poor program implementation and limited uptake of behavior change interventions make addressing undernutrition complex. To address this challenge, Alive & Thrive implemented interventions to strengthen interpersonal counseling, micronutrient supplement provision, and community mobilization through the government antenatal care (ANC) platform in Uttar Pradesh, India.

Objective

This qualitative study aimed to: (1) examine pregnant women's experiences of key nutrition-related behaviors (ANC attendance, consuming a diverse diet, supplement intake, weight gain monitoring, and breastfeeding intentions); (2) examine the influence of family members on these behaviors; and (3) identify key facilitators and barriers that affect behavioral adoption.

Methods

We conducted a qualitative study with in-depth interviews with 24 pregnant women, 13 husbands, and 15 mothers-in-law (MIL). We analyzed data through a thematic approach using the Capability-Opportunity-Motivation-Behavior (COM-B) framework.

Results

For ANC checkups and maternal weight gain monitoring, key facilitators were frontline worker home visits, convenient transportation, and family support, while the primary barrier was low motivation and lack understanding of the importance of ANC checkups. For dietary diversity, there was high reported capability (knowledge related to the key behavior) and most family members were aware of key recommendations; however, structural opportunity barriers (financial strain, lack of food availability and accessibility) prevented behavioral change. Opportunity ranked high for iron and folic acid supplement (IFA) intake, but was not consistently consumed due to side effects. Conversely, lack of supply was the largest barrier for calcium supplement intake. For breastfeeding, there was low overall capability and several participants described receiving inaccurate counseling messages.

Conclusion

Key drivers of maternal nutrition behavior adoption were indicator specific and varied across the capability-opportunity-motivation behavior change spectrum. Findings from this study can help to strengthen future program effectiveness by identifying specific areas of program improvement.

Using a multimodal strategy to improve patient hand hygiene

OBJECTIVE

The role of health care worker hand hygiene in preventing health care associated infections (HCAI) is well-established. There is less emphasis on the hand hygiene (HH) of hospitalized patients; in the context of COVID-19 mechanisms to support it are particularly important. The purpose of this study was to establish if providing patient hand wipes, and a defined protocol for encouraging their use, was effective in improving the frequency of patient HH (PHH).

DESIGN

Before and after study.

SETTIN

General Hospital, United Kingdom.

PARTICIPANTS

All adult patients admitted to 6 acute elderly care/rehabilitation hospital wards between July and October 2018.

METHODS

Baseline audit of PHH opportunities conducted over 6 weeks. Focus group with staff and survey of the public informed the development of a PHH bundle. Effect of bundle on PHH monitored by structured observation of HH opportunities over 12 weeks.

RESULTS

During baseline 303 opportunities for PHH were observed; compliance with PHH was 13.2% (40/303; 95% confidence interval 9.9-7.5). In the evaluation of PHH bundle, 526 PHH opportunities were observed with HH occurring in 58.9% (310/526); an increase of 45.7% versus baseline (95% confidence interval 39.7%-51.0%; P < .001).

CONCLUSION

Providing patients with multiwipe packs of handwipes is a simple, cost-effective approach to increasing PHH and reducing the risk of HCAI in hospital. Health care workers play an essential role in encouraging PHH.

Patient education on infection control: A systematic review

BACKGROUND

Lately, suggestions have been emphasizing the importance of engaging patients and family members in infection control (IC) through participation and education after showing that patients and family members can aid in preventing the transmission of health care-associated infections. However, assessing patient education on IC measures in hospitals is poorly investigated.

PURPOSE

To identify all available studies in the literature that assessed hospitalized patients' education on IC measures.

METHODS

PubMed, Embase, and CINAHL were searched from inception till May 6, 2020 without restrictions. We used Strengthening the Reporting of Observational Studies in Epidemiology tool for assessing the reporting quality of each eligible study.

MAIN FINDINGS

Of the 6,740 identified papers, 25 were eligible for inclusion. Education on health care-associated infections was investigated in 8 studies, education on central line-associated bloodstream infections in 1, education on surgical site infections in 2, education on hand hygiene in 12, education on isolation rationale, precautions, usage of personal protective equipment in 3, and education on respiratory hygiene in 1. In general, a low percentage of patient education on IC was found in most of the included papers.

CONCLUSIONS

The low percentage of patient education on IC in hospitals highlights the need for additional emphasis on patient involvement in IC. Further studies are needed to assess patient education on several IC measures and to explore the education of family members as well.

Strategies for Promoting Hand Hygiene Compliance on Inpatient Psychiatric Units

To identify recommendations to improve staff and patient adherence to hand hygiene best practices on inpatient psychiatric units, a survey of the literature was conducted to distill the most effective recommendations. Several interventions have been identified that have met with success in previous outbreaks of infectious disease. These interventions require little more than basic nursing skills: education, time and attention, and knowledge of one's patients. The literature suggests that strict hand hygiene and infection control processes can be implemented to the benefit of an inpatient psychiatric ward, but only with significant adjustments for staff and patients. [Journal of Psychosocial Nursing and Mental Health Services, 59(5), 21-24.].

Understanding consumer behavior patterns in antibiotic usage for upper respiratory tract infections: A study protocol based on the COM-B framework

BACKGROUND

Irrational use of antibiotics is prevalent worldwide. But our understanding on consumer behaviors in the use of antibiotics is very limited. This study aims to identify consumer behavior patterns in the use of antibiotics for upper respiratory tract infections (URTIs).

METHODS

The study will employ a mixed methods approach based on the "Capacity & Opportunity & Motivation - Behavior" (COM-B) framework. The COM-B attributes of consumers in relation to the use of antibiotics will be extracted from a systematic literature review. Semi-structured in-depth interviews will be conducted on 20-25 community residents with URTI symptoms over the past three months to illustrate the meaning and implications of the thematic categories of COM-B attributes for the purpose of measurement development. The measurement instruments will be modified and validated through Delphi consultations with 15 experts and a survey of 300 adult residents in Wuhan. A cross-sectional survey using the finalised measurement instruments will be conducted on 2700 adult residents randomly selected from 18 residential communities across 9 municipalities in 3 provinces in China. Multi-level latent class analyses will be performed to categeorise the respondents based on the indicators measuring the behavioral features (need recognition, information searching, alternative assessment, purchase, use, and post-use evaluation) of consumers in purchasing, consuming and disposing antibiotics for URTIs. Multi-nominal regression analyses will be performed to determine the predictors of different behavior patterns.

DISCUSSION

This study aims to classify consumers into distinguished categories of behavior patterns toward the use of antibiotics for URTIs. Such a classification system categories the consumers with similar behavior features into the same group so that better targeted interventions can be developed. The COM-B model adopted in this study can also help us better understand the underlying mechanisms of different behavior patterns of consumers.