[Assessment of nursing care quality in the prevention of hospital-acquired infections--the proposed method for quality assessment].

OBJECTIVE

The main objective of the study was the development of a tool for evaluation of the quality of nursing care in the prophylaxis of hospital-acquired infections.

METHODS

Due to the lack of a tool for assessment of the quality of nursing care in the prophylaxis of hospital-acquired infections an attempt was undertaken to construct own tool. This tool consists of 9 main and 83 detailed criteria, which are ascribed 1-5 scores. Occupational activity associated with the surveillance of hospital-acquired infections and the observations and assessment of the quality of nursing care allowed closer recognition of the factors determining the frequency of the development of infections. It was, therefore, possible to specify the most important nursing tasks, which exert a significant effect on the prevention of infections. This enabled the construction of own research method for assessment of the effect of nursing care on the occurrence of infections among hospitalized patients.

RESULTS

A chart for the evaluation of the quality of nursing care in the prophylaxis of hospital-acquired infections was developed. Nine main criteria were considered referring to the basic areas of care of a hospitalized patient. The following of the above-mentioned criteria are the most important: observance of aseptic and hygienic procedures, prevention of infections of the vascular, urinary, and respiratory systems, as well as of the site of surgery, observance of the principles of isolation, medical standards and the organisation of structures for infections monitoring and surveillance. The main criteria were supplemented with the detailed ones, and ascribed a score scale facilitating the evaluation.