Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2022 Aug 1;4(4):100237.
doi: 10.1016/j.infpip.2022.100237. eCollection 2022 Dec.

Do patients need advice and information to prevent infections - results of a single centre structured survey

M Voigt  1 , R Schaumann  1 , F Barre  1 , E Mayr  2 , W Lehmann  3 , T Hawellek  3 , H E J Kaba  1 , S Wüstefeld  1 , S Scheithauer  1
Affiliations

Do patients need advice and information to prevent infections - results of a single centre structured survey

M Voigt et al. Infect Prev Pract. .

Abstract

Background: Healthcare-associated infections are a major burden for hospitals, leading to morbidity and mortality and unnecessary medical costs. They can probably be reduced through what is known as patient empowerment. This study aims to address the question of whether patients are interested in receiving infection prevention and control information.

Methods: Patients were asked in structured interviews whether they would like more information on infection prevention and control. Inclusion criteria comprised 2 groups of patients. Group 1 were patients undergoing elective total endoprosthesis (TEP) and Group 2 were patients tested positive for meticillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA).

Results: The response rate was 38.4 % (163/425 patients). Approximately 75 % of the patients were interested in information on infection prevention and control. The topics of interest differed between the two patient groups: MRSA patients had a higher need for infection prevention and control information. TEP patients showed a high acceptance of antiseptic body wash and a willingness to pay for it themselves. Information given to patients should be group-specific and timely.

Conclusion: Our data suggest a lack of information on infection prevention and control among patients and underline the importance of patient empowerment. The willingness of patients to pay personally for antiseptic wash should be assessed further.

Keywords: Healthcare-associated infection; Infection prevention and control; MRSA; Patient empowerment; Surgical site infection.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Points of interest in the survey and the structure of the questionnaire.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

References

    1. Zacher B., Haller S., Willrich N., Walter J., Sin M.A., Cassini A., et al. Application of a new methodology and R package reveals a high burden of healthcare-associated infections (HAI) in Germany compared to the average in the European Union/European Economic Area, 2011 to 2012. Euro Surveill. 2019;24 doi: 10.2807/1560-7917.ES.2019.24.46.1900135. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Gastmeier P., Geffers C., Herrmann M., Lemmen S., Salzberger B., Seifert H., et al. Nosokomiale Infektionen und Infektionen mit multiresistenten Erregern – Häufigkeit und Sterblichkeit. DMW - Dtsch Med Wochenschr. 2016;141:421–426. doi: 10.1055/s-0041-106299. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Behnke M., Aghdassi S.J., Hansen S., Diaz L.A.P., Gastmeier P., Piening B. The Prevalence of Nosocomial Infection and Antibiotic Use in German Hospitals. Dtsch Aerzteblatt Online. 2017;114:851–857. doi: 10.3238/arztebl.2017.0851. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Siegel J.D., Rhinehart E., Cic R., Jackson M. Management of multidrug-resistant organisms in healthcare settings. 2006. https://www.cdc.gov/infectioncontrol/guidelines/mdro/ 2006. - PubMed
    1. Berríos-Torres S.I., Umscheid C.A., Bratzler D.W., Leas B., Stone E.C., Kelz R.R., et al. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Guideline for the Prevention of Surgical Site Infection. JAMA Surg. 2017;152:784–791. doi: 10.1001/jamasurg.2017.0904. 2017. - DOI - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources