Pengalaman Infection Prevention and Control Nurse (IPCN) dalam Pelaksanaan Hand Hygiene dan Surveilans Infeksi di Ruang Rawat Inap Rumah Sakit Umum Daerah Semarang

Abstract

Health-Care-Associated Infections (HAIs) are infections which patients get while receiving treatment and medical procedures at a hospital or other healthcare facilities after 48 hours or more. Improvement on the practice of hand hygiene and surveillance can lower the HAIs. Infection Prevention and Control Nurses (IPCNs) as a pioneer of infection prevention and control should play an active role in promoting hand hygiene and surveillance in hospitals. However, IPCNs have not so far optimally played their roles. This study aimed to explore the experiences of IPCNs in implementing hand hygiene and infection surveillance at inpatient units of Semarang General Hospital. This study employed a qualitative design with a hermeneutic phenomenological approach. The samples were seven IPCNs as the main participants, two persons of Infection Prevention and Control Officer (IPCO) and 13 Infection Prevention and Control Link Nurses (IPCLNs) as the participants of triangulation. A purposive sampling was used to recruit the samples. The data were collected using in-depth interviews with semi-structured interviews and analyzed using inductive content analysis. The results found five themes related to the implementation of hand hygiene and infection surveillance, including (1) the understanding of infection prevention and control, (2) the adherence to infection prevention and control, (3) the inhibiting attitudes, behaviors and policies, (4) the appropriate efforts and positive expectations needed to deal with the inhibiting attitudes, behaviors and policies, and (5) the role and performance of IPCN, and management support to ensure effective problem-solving. This study concluded that IPCNs had positive and negative experiences in implementing hand hygiene and surveillance at the hospitals. Keywords: Hand Hygiene, IPCN, Surveillance