Perceptions of Care Professionals towards Infection Control

Running head: PROPOSAL
PROPOSAL
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author Note:

1PROPOSAL
Research Topic: Perceptions of care professionals towards infection control associated with
HAI
Introduction:
HAIs or Hospital-Acquired-Infections are also known as nosocomial-infections that
affect patients within a care setting while they are receiving a medical or a surgical care.
Nosocomial infections can potentially occur across a multitude of care settings that include
hospitals, surgical ward, long term care facilities and ambulatory clinics. Research studies
mention that patients that are hospitalized are at a high risk of developing nosocomial infections
due to their compromised immune systems (Li et al., 2014). Studies further suggest that the risk
factors that increase the probability of hospital acquired infections among patients include,
longer hospital stays, overuse of antibiotics, use of indwelling catheters and ineffective hand-
hygiene compliance on the part of the care professionals (Marimuthu et al., 2014). According to
a report published by the Center for Disease Control (2019), nosocomial infections give rise to
approximately 1.7 million infections across US and also accounts for a total of 99,000 deaths
every year. This suggests that despite the infection control policies being in place across
healthcare organizations, the prevalence of the infection and associated morbidity is on the rise
which reflects poor compliance on the part of the care professionals.
Background:
Research studies suggest that every year in Australia, almost 200,000 cases of
nosocomial-infections are reported (Mitchell et al., 2016). Out of the total reported infections,
the most common infection type was urinary tract infection. Also, C.difficile SSIs, respiratory
infections as well as Staphylococcus aureus bactaraemia were reported as common infection

2PROPOSAL
types (World Health Organization, 2016). The infection prevalence is on the rise annually and
leads to high prevalence of morbidity and mortality across Australia. In this context, it should be
stated that research studies further indicate that 70% of the nosocomial infections are preventable
with the implementation of evidence based practices (World Health Organization, 2016).
Moreover, research-studies also mention that poor adherence with hand hygiene protocol has
resulted in the increased prevalence of hospital-acquired infections in the patients. Further it
should be noted that thecurrent evidence base also suggests that integration of policies such as
inducing clinician education, imparting training on effective hand hygiene,chlorhexidine
disinfection of catheter and surgical sites, imparting education in relation to maximum sterile
barrier precautions during catheter insertion, regulation of blood glucose level within surgical
unit, appropriate prescription of antibiotics and spontaneous removal of unnecessary catheters
can help in improved infection control (Gardner et al., 2014). Research studies also suggest that
effective compliance with hand-hygiene protocol is the best measure to control hospital-acquired
infections in patients (McLaws, 2015). Despite the strong evidence base, effective adherence
with hand-hygiene routine has been reported to be significantly lower among the care
professionals which suggests a lack of awareness and training in relation to hand -hygiene and
infection control measures (Storr et al., 2017).
Research Question:
Therefore, on evaluation of the available evidence base and the gamut of scientific
information available, the articulated research question for this research study is mentioned as
under:

3PROPOSAL
What are the perceptions of health care professionals in relation to hospital-acquired infections
and evidence-based infection- control strategies?
Problem statement:
Nosocomial-infections are increasing at an alarming rate within the Australian healthcare
context. In this regard, the evidence based studies reveal that Australia lacks a national
surveillance strategy to detect the prevalence statistics of the hospital-acquired- infections and
also estimate the disease burden associated with the issue. However, research studies mention
that hospital acquired infections contributes to increased medical expenditure, recurrent
hospitalization and increased hospital stay (Zingg et al., 2015). The disease burden associated
with HAIs lead to poor health outcome and also lowers the quality of life of the affected patients
(Storr et al., 2017). The major reason accountable for the high prevalence of the infection has
been identified as poor awareness about HAIs and poor compliance with the prevention
measures (Gardner et al., 2014).
The proposed research therefore intends to evaluate the perceptions of the care
professionals in relation to HAIs and relevant infection control measures.
Literature findings:
As stated by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2019), adherence to
effective hand-hygiene routine is widely recommended as the most effective intervention to
control the transmission of nosocomial-infections. As stated by Zingg et al. (2015), thorough
cleansing of the hands with water and antimicrobial soap or with the use of alcohol-based hand
sanitizers can help in the prevention of infection transmission. In addition to this, McLaws
(2015) has also mentioned that effective hand hygiene can also prevent the progression of