Examining situated infection control and prevention practices: Beyond regulated safety

Abstract

Infection control is a major public health issue. Many measures are in place to reduce and control this risk through prevention campaigns. However, many studies point to the irreducible gap between the prescribed rules and the activity of carers. We report on the ethnographic approach that explored how health care workers performed infection control and prevention practices in a neonatal intensive care unit. To manage the risk of infection, caregivers rely on prescribed prevention rules, but also develop strategies, some of which extend beyond the time frame of patient care. Tools, collective and experience are resources that caregivers rely on to manage infectious risk, but they are also factors that can constrain their activity.