Experiences of infection prevention and control in clinical practice of nursing students in the Greater Accra Region, Ghana: An exploratory qualitative study

Abstract

Introduction: Globally, infections acquired from hospitals pose a major obstacle to patients' safety. Health care workers, especially, nursing students are at high risk for Hospital Acquired Infections (HAIs) as they are always in contact with clients. Therefore, this study aims to explore experiences of infection prevention and control in the clinical practice of nursing students in the Greater Accra Region, Ghana.

Methods: The study utilized a qualitative exploratory design to interview 42 participants (7 focus groups, comprising of 6 members each). A purposive sampling technique was employed to select the participants, who were engaged in 50-90 min' focus group discussions. Data collection lasted for 3 months and was analyzed using content analysis. NVivo version 12 Software was used to identify recurrent themes from the transcribed data.

Results: The results revealed two main themes: preventive practices against hospital-acquired infections and barriers toward infection prevention practices. The subthemes under the preventive practices were as follows: views on HAIs preventive practices, barrier nursing, hand washing and use of sanitizers, aseptic techniques, and sterilization. Increased workload, lack of superior support, and inadequate resources emerged under the barriers toward infection prevention practices.

Conclusion: It was concluded from the study that most of the student nurses had adequate information about HAIs and wish to adhere to the Infection prevention protocols. However, the participants observed poor infection prevention practices among the staff they were learning from. It is therefore recommended that more attention is focused on infection prevention and control in clinical practice among nurses.

Keywords: Infection; clinical placement; intra-semester; nursing students; practices; prevention.