Affiliation:
1. University of Salford
2. Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine
3. Ministry of Health
4. Knowledge for Change
Abstract
Abstract
This paper addresses the role of visitors or ‘attendants’ in the transmission and management of infection risk in a public referral hospital in Uganda. The study built on research on maternal sepsis which found that over 50% antibiotics administered in the hospital were for Healthcare Associated Infections (HAIs). The data was collected during the COVID-19 pandemic which introduced new risks and heightened concern about social movements within hospitals and between hospitals and communities. In the first study of its kind, observational data was collected on a 24/7 basis to capture the presence and roles of attendants in a low resource setting exposing both the infection risks associated with these forms of movement but also the absolute necessity of attendants in the management of infection risk in such contexts. The paper responds directly to a recent call for a ‘new conversation on infection prevention and compassion’ (Storr et al, 2023;408).
Publisher
Research Square Platform LLC
Reference32 articles.
1. Ackers-Johnson, G. (2020). Comparing the antimicrobial diversity of Staphylococcus aureus strains isolated from clinical cases of infection and those found as a commensal organism in Fort Portal, Uganda (PhD research).
2. Opportunities and Challenges for Improving Anti-Microbial Stewardship in Low- and Middle-Income Countries; Lessons Learnt from the Maternal Sepsis Intervention in Western Uganda;Ackers L;Antibiotics,2020
3. Ackers, L., Ackers-Johnson, G., Welsh, J., Kibombo, D., & Opio, S. (2020b). Anti-Microbial Resistance and Maternal Sepsis in LMICs. Ethnographic Insights on Intervention Opportunities in Ugandan Public Hospitals.
4. Knowledge of infection prevention and control among healthcare workers and factors influencing compliance: a systematic review;Alhumaid S;Antimicrob Resist Infect Control,2021
5. Backhaus, R., Verbeek, H., de Boer, B., Urlings, J. H. J., Gerritsen, D. L., Koopmans, R. T. C. M., & Hamers, J. P. H. (2021). From wave to wave: a Dutch national study on the long-term impact of COVID-19 on well-being and family visitation in nursing homes. BMC Geriatrics, 21(1), 588. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1186/s12877-021-02530-1. doi:10.1186/s12877-021-02530-1