Literature Review
Introduction
The literature review on implementing an educational program to reduce infection incidence reviewed eight journals that offered deep insight into the subject matter. This paper will compare the research questions, sample populations, and study limitations of the studies and ultimately conclude.
A Comparison of Research Questions
A research question is a crucial element of a research paper that guides the research process and sets the overall direction and focus of the study. Since the research questions offer focus and clarity and narrow down the issue addressed, it is important to dissect research questions in the scholarly material objectively. The articles used in the study are all aimed at studying infections in acute care facilities but under different niches, as discussed in the analysis of research questions below. First, the article by Haque et al. (2020) presents a crucial question of the most suitable methods to prevent healthcare-related infections. The inquiry supports the PICOT research question and provides the foundation for assessing the research questions.
The article by Dos Santos et al. (2022) poses the question of the most effective and efficient educational strategies for promoting the incorporation of evidence-based practice into daily practice among registered nurses and in nursing students’ curricula. The inquiry aims to investigate appropriate strategies to offer education on hygiene practices and ensure the suggestions are adhered to sustainably. In the same breadth, the article by Goyal and Chaudhry (2019) is guided by a research question that assesses the effectiveness of educational and training programs in increasing the knowledge of healthcare students on infections and hand hygiene. Having established the most appropriate ways to administer education, this article aims to measure the effectiveness of the programs.
The article by Jeong et al. (2023) inquires about the efficacy of a specific education program known as flipped learning based on the ARCS model. The authors aim to investigate the effectiveness of the mentioned learning model on nursing students. The research question broadly aimed to assess learning motivation derived from the model of teaching, the level of understanding of infection control, and the resultant level of confidence. Similarly, the study by Teesing et al. (2020) assessed a model of teaching which the authors described as HANDSOME in the research question. The question was framed to investigate the efficacy of specified multimodal intervention in improving adherence to hand hygiene compliance.
The research question in the article by Tartari et al. (2019) also investigated a teaching model by inquiring whether using the train-the-trainers approach would effectively offer education on infection prevention and control. The study by MacLean et al. (2019) utilizes research questions that investigate the education and training policies that ought to be included in infection control and planning, the current delivery of education in long-term care units, content incorporated, and the evolution of the education delivery. Finally, the article by Shang et al. (2020) inquired about the various infection risk factors among home healthcare patients based on national data.
A Comparison of Sample Populations
The articles specifically focused on nursing students and registered nurses who offer care in long-term care facilities. The selection of sample populations by the research papers resonates with the paper’s purpose to investigate the effectiveness of educational strategies in reducing infections among residents. For example, the article by Dos Santos et al. (2022) investigates healthcare professionals delivering care having achieved educational levels of bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees in nursing. Although the article by Haque et al. (2020) fails to mention the sample population directly, it reviews peer-reviewed journals that investigate the various strategies to handle infection, which were likely conducted in healthcare settings. The sample population in the study by Goyal et al. (2019) involves 728 Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery, Bachelor of Dental Surgery, and Bachelor of Science in Nursing students.
Similarly, the article by Jeong et al. (2023) picks their sample from two nursing schools in different cities. Also, the research by MacLean et al. (2019) picks both paid and unpaid caregivers who frequent long-term care homes. The study by Tartari et al. (2019) and Teesing et al. (2020) adopt a similar trajectory by selecting 305 IPC professionals, including nurses and physicians, and a nursing home in the Netherlands where 103 nursing home organizations were invited, respectively. However, the article by Shang et al. (2020) takes a different approach by selecting about 128,163 patients who had completed HHC in 2013. The article aimed to derive the risk factors linked to infections that were likely to affect care professionals.
A Comparison of The Limitations of The Study
The weaknesses derived from the articles adopted a diverse approach mostly due to the varying nature of the study design and objectives. Generally, narrative reviews such as the one by Dos Santos et al. (2022) and Maclean et al. (2019) presented shortcomings such as the quality of studies scrutinized and possible omission of studies that may have met the evaluation criterion. Closely, the article by Haque et al. (2020) faces the issue of needing to be more inclusive and selecting a wide topic that needs more minor information. The study by Jeong et al. (2023) should have mentioned infection control practices directly, and the one by Tartari et al. (2019) should have reached its scope to cover hygiene compliance and best practices among healthcare workers. The study by Teesing et al. (2020) presented the limitation of possible bias and alternative sources of infections, while the one by Shang et al. (2020) was limited to only the variables collected in the OASIS data, hence a narrow spectrum.
Conclusion
In conclusion, an educational program on hygiene practices is a suitable approach to reducing the transmission of infections. Although various educational models and strategies were investigated, it is crucial to identify the factors that best suit the care facility. Also, it is recommended that technology and reliable data be adopted to draw rationale for educational strategies.
References
Dos Santos, O. P., Melly, P., Hilfiker, R., Giacomino, K., Perruchoud, E., Verloo, H., & Pereira, F. (2022, November). Effectiveness of Educational Interventions to Increase Skills in Evidence-Based Practice among Nurses: The EDITcare Systematic Review. In Healthcare (Vol. 10, No. 11). Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute (MDPI). https://doi.org/10.3390%2Fhealthcare10112204
Goyal, M., & Chaudhry, D. (2019). Impact of educational and training programs on knowledge of healthcare students regarding nosocomial infections, standard precautions, and hand hygiene: a study at tertiary care hospital. Indian Journal of Critical Care Medicine: Peer-reviewed, Official Publication of Indian Society of Critical Care Medicine, 23(5), 227. https://doi.org/10.5005%2Fjp-journals-10071-23166
Haque, M., McKimm, J., Sartelli, M., Dhingra, S., Labricciosa, F. M., Islam, S., … & Charan, J. (2020). Strategies to prevent healthcare-associated infections: a narrative overview. Risk management and healthcare policy, 1765-1780. https://doi.org/10.2147/RMHP.S269315
Jeong D, Park C, Eun Y. Effects of Infection Control Education Program Using Flipped Learning Based on the ARCS Model for Nursing Students: A Mixed Method. Healthcare (Basel). 2023 Oct 13;11(20):2731 https://doi.org/10.3390%2Fhealthcare11202731
MacLean, R. Durepos, P. Gibbons, C. Morris, P. Witherspoon, R. Taylor, N. Keeping-Burke, L. McCloskey R. (2019). Education and training for infection prevention and control provided by long-term care homes to family caregivers: A scoping review protocol. JBI evidence synthesis. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36647898/
Shang, J., Wang, J., Adams, V., & Ma, C. (2020). Risk factors for infection in home health care: National Outcome and Assessment Information Set data analysis. Research in nursing & health, 43(4), 373–386. https://doi.org/10.1002/nur.22053
Tartari, E., Fankhauser, C., Masson-Roy, S., Márquez-Villarreal, H., Fernández Moreno, I., Rodriguez Navas, M. L., … & Pittet, D. (2019). Train-the-Trainers in hand hygiene: a standardized approach to guide education in infection prevention and control. Antimicrobial Resistance & Infection Control, 8, 1-11. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13756-019-0666-4
Teesing, G. R., Erasmus, V., Nieboer, D., Petrignani, M., Koopmans, M. P., Vos, M. C., … & Voeten, H. A. (2020). Increased hand hygiene compliance in nursing homes after a multimodal intervention: a cluster randomized controlled trial (HANDSOME). Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology, 41(10), 1169-1177. doi:10.1017/ice.2020.319
write