ANONYMOUS QUESTIONNAIRE SURVEY ON THE KNOWLEDGE AND PRACTICES OF HOSPITAL STAFF IN INFECTION-CONTROL

We carried out an anonymous questionnaire survey to assess the extent to which hospital medical and nursing staff were familiar with the wri tten policies and procedures of infection control and their intended c ourse of action in situations where no formal policies were available. All 25 full-time medical staff below the grade of consultant and 70 o f 163 permanent nursing staff caring for inpatients at one day shift w ere sampled. Nineteen (76%) medical and 56 (80%) nursing staff returne d their copies. Nurses were significantly more familiar with all writt en policies and procedures than medical staff. They were also more lik ely to seek advice in situations where there were no written guideline s. Many hospital staff were uncertain about the practical details of p olicies and procedures for infection control. Ways to educate and moti vate staff to comply with infection control measures are urgently requ ired; some degree of national standardization of policies and procedur es in infection control is desirable.