Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2023 Nov 4;23(1):2160.
doi: 10.1186/s12889-023-16891-2.

Identifying barriers and enablers to participation in infection surveillance in Australian residential aged care facilities

Eliza Watson  1 , Leslie Dowson  2 , David Dunt  3 , Karin Thursky  2   4   5 , Leon J Worth  1   4   6 , Janet K Sluggett  7   8 , Amanda Appathurai  2 , Noleen Bennett  9   10   11 ; National Infection Surveillance Program in Aged Care (NISPAC) Advisory Group
Affiliations

Identifying barriers and enablers to participation in infection surveillance in Australian residential aged care facilities

Eliza Watson et al. BMC Public Health. .

Abstract

Background: Infection surveillance is a vital part of infection prevention and control activities for the aged care sector. In Australia there are two currently available infection and antimicrobial use surveillance programs for residential aged care facilities. These programs are not mandated nor available to all facilities. Development of a new surveillance program will provide standardised surveillance for all facilities in Australia.

Methods: This study aimed to assess barriers and enablers to participation in the two existing infection and antimicrobial use surveillance programs, to improve development and implementation of a new program. A mixed-methods study was performed. Aged Care staff involved in infection surveillance were invited to participate in focus groups and complete an online survey comprising 17 items. Interviews were transcribed and analysed using the COM-B framework.

Results: Twenty-nine staff took part in the focus groups and two hundred took part in the survey. Barriers to participating in aged care infection surveillance programs were the time needed to collect and enter data, competing priority tasks, limited understanding of surveillance from some staff, difficulty engaging clinicians, and staff fatigue after the COVID-19 pandemic. Factors that enabled participation were previous experience with surveillance, and sharing responsibilities, educational materials and using data for benchmarking and to improve practice.

Conclusion: Streamlined and simple data entry methods will reduce the burden of surveillance on staff. Education materials will be vital for the implementation of a new surveillance program. These materials must be tailored to different aged care workers, specific to the aged care context and provide guidance on how to use surveillance results to improve practice.

Keywords: Cross infection; Nursing home; Surveillance and Qualitative research.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

As noted in the manuscript one competing interest is JKS is a non-executive director of Southern Cross Care SA, NT, VIC (aged care provider organisation). The other authors declare they have no competing interests.

References

    1. Smith PW, Bennett G, Bradley S, et al. SHEA/APIC Guideline: Infection prevention and control in the long-term care facility. Am J Infect Control. 2008;36(7):504–535. doi: 10.1016/j.ajic.2008.06.001. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Department of Health and Aged Care. About residential aged care: Australian Government; [updated August 19, 2022. Available from: https://www.health.gov.au/our-work/residential-aged-care/about-residenti....
    1. Garibaldi RA. Residential care and the elderly: the burden of infection. J Hosp Infect. 1999;43(Suppl):S9–18. doi: 10.1016/S0195-6701(99)90061-0. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Lalic S, Sluggett JK, Ilomaki J, et al. olypharmacy and Medication Regimen Complexity as Risk Factors for Hospitalization Among Residents of Long-Term Care Facilities: A Prospective Cohort Study. J Am Med Dir Assoc. 2016;17(11):1067–e1- e6. doi: 10.1016/j.jamda.2016.08.019. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Australian Government Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission. Guidance and Resources for Providers to support the Aged Care Quality Standards ACQSC; 2021.

Publication types

Substances

LinkOut - more resources