Staff Education to Nurses of Five Departments Performing Point-of-Use Treatment

Staff Education to Nurses of Five Departments Performing Point-of-Use Treatment by Natalia G. Nunez MPH, Walden University, 2019 BS, Florida International University, 2011 Project Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Nursing Practice Walden University November 2024 Point-of-use treatment (POU) treatment is the first step of sterilization, and it is critical for staff performing this process to undergo proper education and training as noted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Performing proper POU treatment reduces the risk of infections in patients and extends the life of the instruments and devices. A risk assessment and gap analysis revealed that staff members did not understand the POU treatment and that there lacked a process standardization. This doctoral project aimed to determine whether implementing evidence-based education to the staff performing POU treatment increased their baseline knowledge. Online library databases such as PubMed and Elsevier were searched for primary literature evidence on POU treatment by using the keywords “point of use,” “pre- cleaning,” “POU,” and “sterile processing.” Nationally adopted guidelines such as the CDC’s Guideline for Disinfection and Sterilization and the ANSI/AAMI’s Comprehensive Guide to Steam Sterilization and Sterility Assurance were used to develop education material. A 35-question survey was developed using Roger’s five-stage change model to identify learning staff learning styles. A pretest to establish the current baseline and a posttest to measure knowledge baseline increase were created and provided to staff during the education session. A total of 47 nurses across five departments participated in the 1-hour education session. A 10% overall increase in baseline knowledge was observed during the measuring and analyzing phase. The pretest score was 83%, which increased to 93% for the posttest. For program sustainability, upon hire and annually, training should be offered to staff to ensure safe nursing practice throughout the organization, thereby promoting positive social change, equity, and inclusion.