Environmental hygiene, knowledge and cleaning practice: a phenomenological study of nurses and midwives during COVID-19

Infection prevention and control: understanding the fundamentals

Infection prevention and control is crucial to prevent patients and healthcare staff from being harmed by avoidable infections, including healthcare-associated infections. This article outlines the main elements of standard precautions for infection prevention and control, as set out by the World Health Organization. Nurses and other healthcare professionals can use this information to refresh their knowledge of infection prevention and control, understand the appropriate practices that should be adopted to reduce the risk of infection transmission, and increase their awareness of the importance of sustainability and education.

Using a handheld UV device for disinfection in the patient care environment: A descriptive qualitative study

Frontline nurses play a critical role in the prevention of healthcare-acquired infections (HAIs) through daily practices of hand hygiene and decontamination of surfaces. Despite these practices, environmental contamination and HAIs persist. Emerging use of UV light at wavelengths safe for human exposure provides additional strategies for disinfecting the patient care environment. The purpose of this qualitative study is to explore frontline nursing feedback regarding a novel handheld UV device prototype. A convenience sample of nurses were invited to participate in facilitated individual or small group discussions led by one member of the research team. Thematic analysis of discussion transcripts was completed by two members of the research team. Sixteen registered nurses participated. Four themes found in the study were time considerations, complexity, safety (patient and nurse), and characteristics of technology to improve patient care. Findings suggest that while nursing staff are willing to use technology, it must be considered valuable to patient care and should not hinder the provision of care. Inclusion of inputs from nursing staff for development of technology identifies potential barriers to acceptance and use in the practice environment.

COVID-19 safe campus evaluation for universities by a hybrid interval type-2 fuzzy decision-making model

The fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, which has affected the whole world in recent years and has had devastating effects on all segments of society, has been one of the most important priorities. The Turkish Standards Institution has determined a checklist to contribute to developing safe and clean environments in higher education institutions in Turkey and to follow-up on infection control measures. However, this study is only a checklist that makes it necessary for decision-makers to make a subjective evaluation during the evaluation process, while the need to develop a more effective, systematic framework that takes into account the importance levels of multiple criteria has emerged. Therefore, this study applies the best-worst method under interval type-2 fuzzy set concept (IT2F-BWM) to determine the importance levels of criteria affecting the "COVID-19 safe campus" evaluation of universities in the context of global pandemic. A three-level hierarchy consisting of three main criteria, 11 sub-criteria, and 58 sub-criteria has been created for this aim. Considering the hierarchy, the most important sub-criterion was determined as periodic disinfection. The high contribution of the interval-valued type-2 fuzzy sets in expressing the uncertainty in the decision-makers' evaluations and the fact that BWM provides criterion weights with a mathematical optimization model that produces less pairwise comparisons and higher consistency are the main factors in choosing this approach. Simple additive weighting (SAW) has also been injected into the IT2F-BWM to determine the safety level of any university campus regarding COVID-19. Thus, decision-makers will be better prepared for the devastating effects of the pandemic by first improving the factors that are relatively important in the fight against the pandemic. In addition, a threshold value will be determined by considering all criteria, and it will prepare the ground for a road map for campuses. A case study is employed to apply the proposed model, and a comparison study is also presented with the Bayesian BWM to validate the results of the criteria weights.

Preparedness of Nurses for Controlling and Preventing the COVID-19 Infection: A Study from Referral Hospitals in Banda Aceh, Indonesia

BACKGROUND: The spread of COVID-19 infection has led to high morbidity and mortality rates worldwide. Nurses are the frontline health workers in handling COVID-19 infections, so adequate preparedness is needed for them to contribute to controlling and preventing the infections. AIM: This study examines the differences in nurses’ preparedness to control and prevent COVID-19 infection at the two hospitals in Banda Aceh, Indonesia. METHODS: This study is a comparative study with a cross-sectional study approach. The sample were nurses in the COVID-19 ward at hospitals A (n=75) and B (n=36). Data collection was conducted by administering a questionnaire consisting of 39 items in a 5-point Likert scale through Google form. The questionnaire satisfied the content validity by experts and reliability test using Cronbach alpha (= 0.968). Mann Whitney U-Test was conducted for analyzing the data. RESULTS: The results revealed that no significant difference in the preparedness of nurses in controlling and preventing the COVID-19 infection in both hospitals (p=0.860). CONCLUSION: The study findings indicate that respondents' demographic data, such as working experience, nurse education, working experience in the COVID-19 ward, and participation in COVID-19 management training, contributed to the nurses’ preparedness.  

Debate on mandatory COVID-19 vaccination

BACKGROUND

Since January 2020, worldwide public health has been threatened by COVID-19, for which vaccines have been adopted from December 2020.

DISCUSSION

Although vaccines demonstrate effectiveness against this disease, vaccine hesitancy reveals concerns towards short-term and long-term side effects or adverse reactions such as post-inoculation death. Mandatory vaccination is used to provide herd immunity, but is refutable due to infringement of human rights and autonomy. Furthermore, the evidence testifies that vaccination cannot guarantee prevention of infection or re-infection, resulting in public resentment against this coercive measure, whilst post-inoculation anxiety continues.

PERSPECTIVE

This discussion suggests a holistic approach, involving the collective efforts of governments, medical experts and individuals, through basic preventive measures and alternative therapy to live with COVID-19 in a healthy and resourceful manner.