An Audit of the Infection Prevention and Control Program at a Regional Hospital in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

Abstract

Background: Infectious diseases are the leading cause of death in South Africa. Containment strategy includes infection prevention and control (IPC) programs, microbiological resistance testing, and antibiotic stewardship programs. The current study evaluates the IPC program at the rural regional Port Shepstone Hospital. Objective: To use the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC’s) IPC tool for acute hospitals to evaluate the infection control program at Port Shepstone Hospital. Materials and Methods: A prospective descriptive study was conducted from February to March 2018 at Port Shepstone Hospital. The study was conducted in two stages. The first stage determined which of the CDC’s core components of an IPC program were operational. In the second stage, in 11 adult long-stay wards, nurses were identified for completion of selected elements of the CDC tool. Results: The IPC at Port Shepstone Hospital practices 10 of the 17 elements of the CDC’s Infection Control Assessment Tool. The highest scoring ward was gynaecology (110/119 (95%)). The lowest was the psychiatric ward, which scored 64/119 (53%). There was a lack of internal auditing practices. Conclusion: Port Shepstone Hospital IPC program is limited as only some of the components are practised. The lack of internal auditing practices is concerning and needs improvement. To achieve the proper application of the IPC program more emphasis needs to be placed on constantly auditing existing practices and giving feedback to staff coupled with relevant training and resource support. This can be facilitated by hospital management allocating resources to IPC audit teams to audit and share findings with departments and develop quality improvement programs.