EVALUATION OF INFECTION CONTROL PRACTICES AT KAMPALA INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY TEACHING HOSPITAL SURGICAL DEPARTMENT

Abstract

Certain elements are necessary to attain the infection control goals of personnel health service:

coordination with other departments, medical evaluations, health and safety education,

immunization programs, management of job-related illnesses and exposures to infectious

diseases, through policies according to the CDC.

In light of the above, study was designed to evaluate the infection control practices at KIUTH

using the surgical department as a model. The study aimed at determining the staff protection

practices, surgical site infection procedures and practices and the availability and usability of

infection control policies and the way it’s implementation arrangements .

The study design was descriptive with mixed method of data collections including interview with

key staff (2 staff were interviewed) using a non-structured interview guide; observation was done

by the researcher to supplement her findings and use of self-administered questionnaire for staff

that generated quantitative and qualitative data.

The study found out that there was little information among related to the availability of

infections control policy and the arrangements for its implementations, only 11 staff from the

surgical ward reported the availability of IC policy in their departments, and that only,

12(23.08%) of the staff were trained, and 24(42.86%) reported administration of glucose a

surgical infection control technique, 16(28.57%) reported administration of Oxygen and

12(21.43%) reported hand washing using 4% chlorexidine and shaving hair 4(7.14%)

In the view of the above findings, this study concluded that infection control is not given the

attention it deserves at surgical department of KIUTH. The infection control committee which

manages the infection control activities seemed to be malfunctions, rendering the whole process

ineffective. The staff protection mechanisms are inadequate and non-routine.

Institute infection control committees in all the departments and units, and appoint an infection

control manager, the staff should be trained in the basic principles of infection control and how

to avoid staff patient’s infection transfers, staff should be vaccinated against the most infectious

organisms routinely like Hepatitis and Yellow fever and that the hospital should design ward

specific infection control techniques with the help of senior staff in order to avoid infections

among patients