A Potential Way to Decrease the Know-Do Gap in Hospital Infection Control in Vietnam: “Providing Specific Figures on Healthcare-Associated Infections to the Hospital Staff Can ‘Wake Them Up’ to Change Their Behaviour”

La Thi Quynh Lien, Eva Johansson, Pham Thi Lan, Nguyen Thi Kim Chuc, Nguyen Thi Minh Thoa, Nguyen Quynh Hoa, Ho Dang Phuc, Ashok J. Tamhankar and Cecilia Stålsby Lundborg
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La Thi Quynh Lien: Health Systems and Policy (HSP): Improving the Use of Medicines, Department of Public Health Sciences, Karolinska Institutet, Tomtebodavägen 18 A, 17177 Stockholm, Sweden
Eva Johansson: Health Systems and Policy (HSP): Improving the Use of Medicines, Department of Public Health Sciences, Karolinska Institutet, Tomtebodavägen 18 A, 17177 Stockholm, Sweden
Pham Thi Lan: Department of Family Medicine, Hanoi Medical University, 01 Ton That Tung, Dong Da District, Hanoi 116516, Vietnam
Nguyen Thi Kim Chuc: Department of Family Medicine, Hanoi Medical University, 01 Ton That Tung, Dong Da District, Hanoi 116516, Vietnam
Nguyen Thi Minh Thoa: Department of Family Medicine, Hanoi Medical University, 01 Ton That Tung, Dong Da District, Hanoi 116516, Vietnam
Nguyen Quynh Hoa: National Centralised Drug Procurement Centre, Vietnam Ministry of Health, 138A Giang Vo Street, Ba Dinh district, Hanoi 118401, Vietnam
Ho Dang Phuc: Institute of Mathematics-VAST, 18 Hoang Quoc Viet, Cau Giay District, Hanoi 122121, Vietnam
Ashok J. Tamhankar: Health Systems and Policy (HSP): Improving the Use of Medicines, Department of Public Health Sciences, Karolinska Institutet, Tomtebodavägen 18 A, 17177 Stockholm, Sweden
Cecilia Stålsby Lundborg: Health Systems and Policy (HSP): Improving the Use of Medicines, Department of Public Health Sciences, Karolinska Institutet, Tomtebodavägen 18 A, 17177 Stockholm, Sweden

IJERPH, 2018, vol. 15, issue 7, 1-12

Abstract: Adequate infection control plays a key role in preventing healthcare-associated infections (HAIs). This study aimed to explore staff perceptions of hospital infection control in a rural and an urban hospital in Vietnam. Individual interviews were conducted with hospital managers, and focus group discussions were conducted with doctors, nurses and cleaning workers separately. Content analysis was applied. An interview guide including discussion points on HAIs, hand hygiene and healthcare waste management was used. Generally, the staff were knowledgeable of hospital infection control, but they were not aware of the situation in their own hospital, and infection control practices in the hospitals remained poor. Reported difficulties in infection control included lack of resources, poor awareness and patient overload. A main theme emerged: ‘Making data on HAIs available for health workers can improve their awareness and motivate them to put their existing knowledge into practice, thus decreasing the know-do gap in infection control’. This could be a feasible intervention to improve infection control practice in the hospitals with limited resources, high workload and patient overload.

Keywords: qualitative study; perceptions; hospital staff; infection control; healthcare-associated infection; know-do gap; Vietnam (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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