Performance of infection prevention and control programs in small hospitals

Abstract

Objective: To evaluate the structure compliance and prevention and control processes of Healthcare-Associated Infections (HAIs). Method: A prospective and cross-sectional study conducted from 2015 to 2016 in small hospitals with up to 70 beds in a region of São Paulo state. Four previously validated indicators were evaluated and expressed as a compliance index (percentage in relation to the evaluated items). Results: Fourteen (14) among the 27 recruited hospitals consented to participate in the study. Te average compliance values for each indicator were: Program structure (61.0%); Operational guidelines (84.5%); Epidemiological surveillance (57.9%); and Prevention activities (74.5%). Greater compliance was observed in private hospitals (73.9%) and with the presence of an intensive care unit (90.3%). Te hospitals had nurses assigned to the program (92.9%), but only 23.1% of the private institutions worked exclusively for six hours. Conclusion: Only the indicator referring to the Operational Guidelines of the evaluated programs was above 90% compliance for the median of hospitals. Te greatest dispersion of compliance results among the studied hospitals was related to the Epidemiological Surveillance indicator.