Evaluation of Infection Prevention and Control Programmes (IPC), and Assessment Tools for IPC-Programmes at MOH-Health Facilities in Saudi Arabia

Abstract

Infection Prevention and Control is a Quality Standard and is crucial in all health care facilities.Many hospitals remain deficient in trained infection control professionals (ICPs), and now there is an acute awareness of the need to correct this shortfall. The objectives of the study were to describe the current status of ICP programs at ministry of health (MOH) and to evaluate the current status of infection prevention and control programs at health care facilities in kingdom of Saudi Arabia. A cross sectional interview and a self assessment study were conducted on infection prevention and control (IPC) program in Saudi Arabia. All the MOH hospital in all regions was randomly chosen to the study setting. The selection of facilities was done at random with a clear intention to include twenty regions. A random sample was taken from these hospitals with sample size 56 (55.4%), by Multi stage random sampling technique. Results showed that the total facility in all over the kingdom was 51.4% where central area covered the facility score 58.2%, followed by western area (54.8%), south (53.7%), east (46.3%), and lastly with (45.8%) north area. Survey revealed that the infrastructure for infection control program in Saudi Arabian hospitals remained underdeveloped. There were defects in the identified components of effective infection control programs.

Prevalence of Acinetobacter baumannii in Saudi Arabia: risk factors, antimicrobial resistance patterns and mechanisms of carbapenem resistance

“…The presence of nosocomial MDR A. baumannii in several Saudi Arabia hospitals have become a significant healthcare and economic issue [18, 46, 47]. Saudi Arabia is divided into 13 administrative regions, and geographically these regions are distributed in five major areas of the country (central, eastern, northern, southern and western areas) [48]. Most of the studies about A. baumannii antimicrobial resistance were conducted in the central, western and eastern areas and small data came from the southern and northern areas (Table 1).…”

Infection prevention and control in a treatment centre during a Lassa fever outbreak in southeastern Nigeria - January, 2018

“…Person-to-person spread also occurs by inhalation or direct contact with blood, vomitus, urine, saliva, feaces, throat secretions or other body fluids from affected Lassa fever patients. 2,12 Lassa fever is an epidemic-prone disease with an alert threshold of a single suspected case and an epidemic threshold of a single confirmed case. 3 Outbreaks of the disease have been observed in Nigeria, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea and the Central African Republic, but it is believed that human infections also exist in Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mali and Senegal.…”

Perceived Infection Prevention Climate and Its Predictors Among Nurses in Saudi Arabia

“…Outbreaks of several HCAIs and community infectious diseases (e.g., pandemic influenza A, H5N1 highly pathogenic avian influenza, Rift Valley fever, and Middle East respiratory syndrome) have been experienced in the country in recent years (Rabaan, Alhani, Bazzi, & Al‐Ahmed, ). Hospitals are also faced with challenges in IPC, such as deficiency in trained infection control professionals, defects in several areas of infection prevention programs (e.g., training in IPC programs, ventilation facilities, use of antimicrobials, and staffing ratios; Assiri, Choudhry, Alsaleh, Alanazi, & Alsaleh, ), and relatively high levels of uncertainty among healthcare workers in infection prevention‐related issues (e.g., institution‐specific issues, surveillance and reporting standards, and readiness and competence to implement policies and respond to outbreaks; Rabaan et al., ). These challenges may negatively impact the infection prevention climate in hospitals, which may likewise affect the quality of patient care.…”