INFECTION PREVENTION AND CONTROL COMPLIANCE AMONG HOSPITAL HEALTHCARE WORKERS: DETERMINANTS, INTERVENTIONS, AND PATIENT OUTCOMES, A SYSTEMATIC REVIEW

Abstract Background: Infection prevention and control (IPC) depends on consistent healthcare worker (HCW) adherence to core practices. Suboptimal compliance contributes to healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) and avoidable harm. Methods: A PRISMA-aligned systematic review was conducted using PubMed Central to identify hospital-based original research evaluating IPC compliance, determinants of compliance, interventions to improve compliance, or patient outcomes. Eligible designs included randomized and nonrandomized interventional studies and observational studies among hospital HCWs. Ten original studies were included for Results, and nine additional PMC articles were used to frame the Introduction and Discussion. Results: Ten original studies (multi-country; ICUs and general wards) addressed hand hygiene and, or standard precautions. Interventional studies consistently improved hand hygiene compliance, with examples including increases from 50.17% to 71.75% alongside reduced HAI and CAUTI rates in a Saudi university hospital, 30.9% to 69.5% after an ICU educational program in Egypt, and 32.1% to 39.4% after a multimodal program in Tunisia. Determinants of compliance were repeatedly linked to training, resource availability, workload, time pressure, safety climate, and monitoring, feedback. Conclusion: IPC compliance among hospital HCWs is modifiable. Multimodal interventions improve compliance and can translate to better patient outcomes when coupled with surveillance and leadership accountability.