Compliance and barriers to the use of infection prevention and control measures among health care workers during COVID‐19 pandemic in Qatar: A national survey

AIM: To assess health care workers' compliance with infection prevention and control measures in different health care sectors in Qatar during COVID‐19 pandemic. BACKGROUND: Being the first line of defence against COVID‐19 infection, health care workers are particularly at increased risk of getting infected. Compliance with infection prevention and control measures is essential for their safety and the safety of patients. METHODS: A web‐based national survey was conducted between November 2020 and January 2021 targeting all health care workers in governmental, semi‐governmental and private health care sectors. RESULTS: Of 1,757 health care workers, 49.9% were between 30 and 39 years of age; the majority (47.5%) were nurses. Participants reported a significant increase in the median self‐rated compliance scores during the pandemic compared with before it (p < .001). During the pandemic, 49.7% of health care workers were fully compliant with personal protective equipment (PPE) use; 83.1% were fully compliant with hand hygiene. Overall, 44.1% were fully compliant with infection prevention and control measures (PPE and hand hygiene). Nationality, health sector, profession and frequency of interactions with suspected or confirmed COVID‐19 cases were significantly associated with compliance with overall infection prevention and control measures. The most reported barriers were work overload and shortages of PPE and handwashing agents. CONCLUSIONS: Compliance of health care workers with infection prevention and control measures needs further improvement. IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING MANAGEMENT: Frequent quality checks, provision of adequate supplies and behaviour change interventions are recommended strategies for hospital and nursing administrators to improve health care workers' compliance.