Understanding Paediatric Nurses’ Integration of the National Infection Prevention Standard into Practice
Mataya Kilpatrick1, Ana Hutchinson1,2,4, Elizabeth Manias3, Stéphane Bouchoucha1,4, , 1Deakin University, School of Nursing and Midwifery, Centre for Quality and Patient Safety Research, Geelong, Victoria, Australia2Deakin University, Centre for Quality and Patient Safety Research, Epworth Healthcare Partnership, Geelong, Victoria, Australia3Monash University, Clayton, Victoria, Australia4Deakin University, Centre for Innovation in Infectious Disease and Immunology Research, Geelong, Victoria, Australia
Introduction
Antimicrobial Stewardship (AMS) is a comprehensive approach to ensuring appropriate and safe antimicrobial treatment for patients. While nurses’ contribution to infection prevention and control (IPC) is well recognised, their involvement in AMS initiatives remains under-recognised. The aim of this qualitative exploratory descriptive study was to understand how paediatric nurses were incorporating the national preventing and controlling infection standard into their practice.
Methods
Forty-three nurses were recruited from adolescent, oncology, and surgical wards in a metropolitan tertiary children’s hospital. Focus group data were analysed using thematic analysis.
Results
Three major themes were derived from the data: Understanding of preventable infections, Embracing evidence-based guidelines to protect the patient, and Roles in preventing and controlling infections and antimicrobial stewardship. Nurses had a thorough understanding of IPC practices and clinical guidelines, including sepsis recognition and response, medication adverse reactions, and microbe testing. Nurses showed a limited view of their role in AMS, preferring to focus solely on safe antimicrobial administration. Barriers identified by participants to the implementation of guidelines included parents’ dismissal of the importance of adhering to COVID-19 precautions and that the use of electronic medical records (EMR) for prescribing made it challenging to change the practice environment.
Conclusion
Paediatric nurses prioritised good IPC practice however they observed following the lifting of COVID-19 restrictions that parents and visitors no longer prioritised transmission-based precautions when visiting vulnerable patients. Optimising existing EMR systems to further support the nurses’ role in AMS could also help to reduce medication errors and improve patient care.
Biography
Assoc. Prof. Stéphane Bouchoucha is an Associate Professor and Associate Head of School (International) in the School of Nursing and Midwifery at Deakin University, and the Australasian College for Infection Prevention and Control President-Elect. He is also a researcher based in Deakin’s Institute for Health Transformation. With over 20 years’ experience as a registered nurse and an academic, Stéphane has worked in a variety of clinical (critical care, Infection Prevention and, Leadership and management) and community settings. Stéphane shares his expertise by teaching undergraduate and postgraduate nursing courses while supervising research students with IPC projects.