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Meta-Analysis
. 2019 Mar 23;9(3):e025824.
doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2018-025824.

Patient involvement in the implementation of infection prevention and control guidelines and associated interventions: a scoping review

Affiliations
Meta-Analysis

Patient involvement in the implementation of infection prevention and control guidelines and associated interventions: a scoping review

Heloise Fernandes Agreli et al. BMJ Open. .

Abstract

Objective: To explore patient involvement in the implementation of infection prevention and control (IPC) guidelines and associated interventions.

Design: Scoping review.

Methods: A methodological framework was followed to identify recent publications on patient involvement in the implementation of IPC guidelines and interventions. Initially, relevant databases were searched to identify pertinent publications (published 2013-2018). Reflecting the scarcity of included studies from these databases, a bidirectional citation chasing approach was used as a second search step. The reference list and citations of all identified papers from databases were searched to generate a full list of relevant references. A grey literature search of Google Scholar was also conducted.

Results: From an identified 2078 papers, 14 papers were included in this review. Our findings provide insights into the need for a fundamental change to IPC, from being solely the healthcare professionals (HCPs) responsibility to one that involves a collaborative relationship between HCPs and patients. This change should be underpinned by a clear understanding of patient roles, potential levels of patient involvement in IPC and strategies to overcome barriers to patient involvement focusing on the professional-patient relationship (eg, patient encouragement through multimodal educational strategies and efforts to disperse professional's power).

Conclusions: There is limited evidence regarding the best strategies to promote patient involvement in the implementation of IPC interventions and guidelines. The findings of this review endorse the need for targeted strategies to overcome the lack of role clarity of patients in IPC and the power imbalances between patients and HCPs.

Keywords: clinical governance; health policy; quality in health care; risk management.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing interests: None declared.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Bidirectional citation searching structure and results.
Figure 2
Figure 2
PRISMA flow chart of identification and inclusion of studies. PRISMA, Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Word cloud (‘Wordle’) generated in NVivo based on 14 papers selected for scoping review of patient involvement in infection prevention and control guidelines.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Thematic map highlighting the overarching theme (patient involvement in the implementation of infection prevention and control (IPC) guidelines and associated interventions) and subthemes of analysis.

References

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