Nurses’ Adherence to Egyptian Standard Infection Control Guidelines in Pediatric Hemodialysis Unit

Background: A health care-associated infection (HCAI) is defined as "an infectionthat initially manifests 48 hours or more after hospitalization, or within 30 days afterreceiving medical treatment." It may result in increased rates of morbidity andmortality as well as longer hospital stays. In order to lower the occurrence of HCA,pediatric nurses in hemodialysis (HD) units must strictly adhere to establishedinfection control procedures. Aim: The study aimed to assess nurses' adherence toEgyptian standard infection control guidelines in pediatric HD unit. Setting: Thestudy was conducted in Kidney Dialysis Unit at Smouha University Children'sHospital. Subjects: All nurses who were responsible for providing direct care forchildren undergoing HD (30 nurses). Tool: One tool was used to collect necessarydata: Nurses’ adherence to Egyptian standard infection control guidelinesobservational checklist. Results: The majority of the nurses had high satisfactoryscores concerning adherence to hand hygiene, wearing personal protectiveequipment, safe injection, waste disposal, cleaning and disinfection of environmentalsurfaces and handling of disposable supplies/ instruments/ equipment(93.3%,95.8%,95.0%,98,3%,92.5% and 91.7% respectively). Conclusion: It wasconcluded that the highest percentage of the studied nurses had overall “highSatisfactory" adherence to Egyptian Standard Infection Control Guidelines.Recommendations: Based on the previous findings and conclusion: The recentEgyptian standard infection control guidelines should be applied by the pediatricnurses in HD unit to guard against the occurrence of HAI.