Roles of infection control nurses in community hospitals.
OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the roles of infection control nurses (ICNs) and to detect problems, obstacles during work and needs for support in community hospitals.


METHODS
A descriptive study, data from interview and questionnaire survey of 2 ICN from HA awarded hospitals and 146 IC nurses from hospitals applied for HA.


RESULTS
From April to May 2002, questionnaires were returned for 115 (81.56%) plus 7 interviews for a total of 122 samples. The practiced HA IC roles included counseling (86.5%), surveillance (83.1%), administration (82.8%), employee health (82%), education (80%), quality development (76.3%), epidemic investigation (72.2%) and research (10.4%). The major problems and obstacles included inadequate IC knowledge, multiple responsibilities, inadequate cooperation, less administrative support, inadequate budget and documents.


CONCLUSIONS
The present study suggested that the IC research role was the least done because of inadequate knowledge, too heavy work load and lack of administrative support.
Jantarasri
Laddawan
L
Tasala Hospital, Nakorn Sri Thammarat.
Soparatana
Poonsap
P
Moongtui
Wanchai
W
Tantisiriwat
Worapot
W
Danchaivijitr
Somwang
S
D000328:Adult; D003428:Cross Infection / Q000517:prevention & control*; D005260:Female; D006764:Hospitals, Community; D006801:Humans; D017053:Infection Control / Q000458:organization & administration*; D016357:Infection Control Practitioners; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D007587:Job Description; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D024802:Nurse's Role; D016134:Organizational Policy; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013785:Thailand