A larger percentage of staff at a Magnet-designated academic medical center complied with contact precautions guidelines compared with staff at a community medical center, according to a study in the American Journal of Infection Control.
Contact precautions are measures, such as hand hygiene, gloving, wearing a gown and wearing a mask, to prevent the spread of infection among patients suspected or confirmed of having an infection. While a 600-bed Magnet-designated academic medical center and a 110-bed community medical center in the southeastern U.S. reported similar levels of compliance with four of five evidence-based contact precaution behaviors, the observed compliance rate was higher at the Magnet hospital than at the community hospital.
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Here are some other differences between staff at the hospitals:
• Correct answers to contact precautions questions ranged from 75 percent at the community hospital to 100 percent at the Magnet hospital, according to the study.
• Twenty-five percent of Magnet hospital staff perceived time as a barrier to contact precautions, compared with 5 percent of community hospital staff.
• Eighty-seven percent of Magnet hospital staff were motivated to follow contact precautions by supervisors' recognition, compared with 33 percent of community hospital staff.
Both hospitals' staff members had low rates of hand hygiene before glove application, according to the study.
More Articles on Contact Precautions:
Study: Contact Precautions Linked to Better Hand Hygiene
Study: Axing Glove Requirement Boosted Hand Hygiene Compliance
Study: Full Contact Precautions as Effective Against MRSA as Gloves Alone
