Details:

Alternative Title:
J Obstet Gynecol Neonatal Nurs
Personal Author:
Williams, Jennifer L. ; Mersereau, Patricia W. ; Ruch-Ross, Holly ; Zapata, Lauren B. ; Ruhl, Catherine
Williams, Jennifer L. ; Mersereau, Patricia W. ; Ruch-Ross, Holly ; Zapata, Lauren B. ; Ruhl, Catherine Less -
Description:
Objective

To assess the presence and usefulness of written policies and practices on infection control consistent with the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) guidance in hospital labor and delivery (L&D) units during the 2009 H1N1 influenza pandemic.

Setting

Online survey.

Participants

Of 11,845 eligible nurses, 2,641 (22%) participated. This analysis includes a subset of 1,866 nurses who worked exclusively in L&D units.

Methods

A cross-sectional descriptive evaluation was sent to 12,612 members from the Association of Women’s Health, Obstetric, and Neonatal Nurses (AWHONN) who reported working in labor, delivery, postpartum, or newborn care settings during the 2009 H1N1 influenza pandemic.

Results

Respondents (73.8%) reported that CDC guidance was very useful for infection control in L&D settings during the pandemic. We assessed the presence of the following infection control written policies, consistent with CDC’s guidance in hospital L&D units, during the 2009 H1N1 influenza pandemic and their rate of implementation most of the time: questioning women upon arrival about recent flu-like symptoms (89.4%, 89.9%), immediate initiation of antiviral medicines if flu suspected or confirmed (65.2%, 49%), isolating ill women from healthy women immediately (90.7%, 84.7%), ask ill women to wear masks during L&D (67%, 57.7%), immediately separating healthy newborns from ill mothers (50.9%, 42.4%), and bathing healthy infants when stable (58.4%, 56.9%). Reported written policies for five of the six practices increased during the pandemic. Five of six written policies remained above baseline after the pandemic.

Conclusions

Respondents considered CDC guidance very useful. The presence of written policies is important for the implementation of infection control practices by L&D nurses.


Subject:
[+]
Adult
Cross-Sectional Studies
Cross Infection
Delivery, Obstetric
Delivery Rooms
Female
Humans
Incidence
Infant, Newborn
Infection Control
Influenza, Human
Influenza A Virus, H1N1 Subtype
Male
Neonatal Nursing
Nurse's Role
Obstetric Nursing
Pandemics
Pregnancy
Risk Assessment
Surveys And Questionnaires

Source:
J Obstet Gynecol Neonatal Nurs. 2013; 42(5):527-540.
Pubmed ID:
24020478
Pubmed Central ID:
PMC4447205
Document Type:
Journal Article
Funding:
CC999999/Intramural CDC HHS/United States
Name as Subject:
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (U.S.) ; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (U.S.)
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (U.S.) ; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (U.S.) Less -
Place as Subject:
United States
Collection(s):
CDC Public Access
Main Document Checksum:
[+]
urn:sha256:2b653bb892a09ec53f8eef043dd6a41e58db782bdc59458faab8a8505bf95afc
File Type:

Supporting Files

• nihms692527.nxml

  xml

More +