Family caregivers in public tertiary care hospitals in Bangladesh: Risks and opportunities for infection control

Details

• Alternative Title:
  Am J Infect Control
• Personal Author:
  Islam, M. Saiful ; Luby, Stephen P. ; Sultana, Rebeca ; Rimi, Nadia Ali ; Zaman, Rashid Uz ; Uddin, Main ; Nahar, Nazmun ; Rahman, Mahmudur ; Hossain, M. Jahangir ; Gurley, Emily S.
• Description:
  Background
  
  Family caregivers are integral to patient care in Bangladeshi public hospitals. This study explored family caregivers’ activities and their perceptions and practices related to disease transmission and prevention in public hospitals.
  
  Methods
  
  Trained qualitative researchers conducted a total of 48 hours of observation in 3 public tertiary care hospitals and 12 in-depth interviews with family caregivers.
  
  Results
  
  Family caregivers provided care 24 hours a day, including bedside nursing, cleaning care, and psychologic support. During observations, family members provided 2,065 episodes of care giving, 75% (1,544) of which involved close contact with patients. We observed family caregivers washing their hands with soap on only 4 occasions. The majority of respondents said diseases are transmitted through physical contact with surfaces and objects that have been contaminated with patient secretions and excretions, and avoiding contact with these contaminated objects would help prevent disease.
  
  Conclusion
  
  Family caregivers are at risk for hospital-acquired infection from their repeated exposure to infectious agents combined with their inadequate hand hygiene and knowledge about disease transmission. Future research should explore potential strategies to improve family caregivers’ knowledge about disease transmission and reduce family caregiver exposures, which may be accomplished by improving care provided by health care workers.
  
  
• Subjects:
  Adult Bangladesh Caregivers Cross Infection Female Hand Hygiene Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice Hospitals, Public Humans Infection Control Male Middle Aged Risk Assessment Risk Management Tertiary Care Centers

  More +
• Keywords:
  Caregiving Practice Hospital-acquired Infection Qualitative Research Socio-cultural
• Source:
  Am J Infect Control. 42(3):305-310
• Pubmed ID:
  24406254
• Pubmed Central ID:
  PMC4681270
• Document Type:
  Journal Article
• Funding:
  CC999999/Intramural CDC HHSUnited States/ ; I-U01-C1000298/PHS HHSUnited States/
• Volume:
  42
• Issue:
  3
• Collection(s):
  CDC Public Access
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha256:9904832300a67bff22bb3b651ce48de6e3bd44aca5adb5a1841f590a29411288
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/36876/cdc_36876_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 172.42 KB ]