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Infection Prevention and Control in Three Tertiary Healthcare Facilities in Freetown, Sierra Leone during the COVID-19 Pandemic: More Needs to Be Done!
Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) measures are critical to the reduction in healthcare-associated infections, especially during pandemics, such as that of COVID-19. We conducted a hospital-based cross-sectional study in August 2021 at Connaught Hospital, Princess Christian Maternity Hospital an...
Autores principales: | , , , , , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
MDPI
2022
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9105082/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35564669 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19095275 |
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author | Kamara, Ibrahim Franklyn Tengbe, Sia Morenike Fofanah, Bobson Derrick Bunn, James Edward Njuguna, Charles Kuria Kallon, Christiana Kumar, Ajay M. V. |
author_facet | Kamara, Ibrahim Franklyn Tengbe, Sia Morenike Fofanah, Bobson Derrick Bunn, James Edward Njuguna, Charles Kuria Kallon, Christiana Kumar, Ajay M. V. |
author_sort | Kamara, Ibrahim Franklyn |
collection | PubMed |
description | Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) measures are critical to the reduction in healthcare-associated infections, especially during pandemics, such as that of COVID-19. We conducted a hospital-based cross-sectional study in August 2021 at Connaught Hospital, Princess Christian Maternity Hospital and Ola During Children’s Hospital located in Freetown, Sierra Leone. We used the World Health Organization’s Infection Prevention and Control Assessment Framework Tool to assess the level of IPC compliance at these healthcare facilities. The overall IPC compliance score at Connaught Hospital was 323.5 of 800 points, 313.5 of 800 at Ola During Children’s Hospital, 281 of 800 at Princess Christian Maternity Hospital, implying a ‘Basic’ IPC compliance grade. These facilities had an IPC program, IPC committees and dedicated IPC focal persons. However, there were several challenges, including access to safe and clean water and insufficient quantities of face masks, examination gloves and aprons. Furthermore, there was no dedicated budget or no healthcare-associated infection (HAI) surveillance, and monitoring/audit of IPC practices were weak. These findings are of concern during the COVID-19 era, and there is an urgent need for both financial and technical support to address the gaps and challenges identified. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-9105082 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2022 |
publisher | MDPI |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-91050822022-05-14 Infection Prevention and Control in Three Tertiary Healthcare Facilities in Freetown, Sierra Leone during the COVID-19 Pandemic: More Needs to Be Done! Kamara, Ibrahim Franklyn Tengbe, Sia Morenike Fofanah, Bobson Derrick Bunn, James Edward Njuguna, Charles Kuria Kallon, Christiana Kumar, Ajay M. V. Int J Environ Res Public Health Article Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) measures are critical to the reduction in healthcare-associated infections, especially during pandemics, such as that of COVID-19. We conducted a hospital-based cross-sectional study in August 2021 at Connaught Hospital, Princess Christian Maternity Hospital and Ola During Children’s Hospital located in Freetown, Sierra Leone. We used the World Health Organization’s Infection Prevention and Control Assessment Framework Tool to assess the level of IPC compliance at these healthcare facilities. The overall IPC compliance score at Connaught Hospital was 323.5 of 800 points, 313.5 of 800 at Ola During Children’s Hospital, 281 of 800 at Princess Christian Maternity Hospital, implying a ‘Basic’ IPC compliance grade. These facilities had an IPC program, IPC committees and dedicated IPC focal persons. However, there were several challenges, including access to safe and clean water and insufficient quantities of face masks, examination gloves and aprons. Furthermore, there was no dedicated budget or no healthcare-associated infection (HAI) surveillance, and monitoring/audit of IPC practices were weak. These findings are of concern during the COVID-19 era, and there is an urgent need for both financial and technical support to address the gaps and challenges identified. MDPI 2022-04-26 /pmc/articles/PMC9105082/ /pubmed/35564669 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19095275 Text en © 2022 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). |
spellingShingle | Article Kamara, Ibrahim Franklyn Tengbe, Sia Morenike Fofanah, Bobson Derrick Bunn, James Edward Njuguna, Charles Kuria Kallon, Christiana Kumar, Ajay M. V. Infection Prevention and Control in Three Tertiary Healthcare Facilities in Freetown, Sierra Leone during the COVID-19 Pandemic: More Needs to Be Done! |
title | Infection Prevention and Control in Three Tertiary Healthcare Facilities in Freetown, Sierra Leone during the COVID-19 Pandemic: More Needs to Be Done! |
title_full | Infection Prevention and Control in Three Tertiary Healthcare Facilities in Freetown, Sierra Leone during the COVID-19 Pandemic: More Needs to Be Done! |
title_fullStr | Infection Prevention and Control in Three Tertiary Healthcare Facilities in Freetown, Sierra Leone during the COVID-19 Pandemic: More Needs to Be Done! |
title_full_unstemmed | Infection Prevention and Control in Three Tertiary Healthcare Facilities in Freetown, Sierra Leone during the COVID-19 Pandemic: More Needs to Be Done! |
title_short | Infection Prevention and Control in Three Tertiary Healthcare Facilities in Freetown, Sierra Leone during the COVID-19 Pandemic: More Needs to Be Done! |
title_sort | infection prevention and control in three tertiary healthcare facilities in freetown, sierra leone during the covid-19 pandemic: more needs to be done! |
topic | Article |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9105082/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35564669 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19095275 |
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