PP17 -Enhancing infection prevention and control practices among intern medical officers: A targeted awareness program

Abstract

Introduction

Healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) are a major global concern, leading to increased morbidity, mortality, and healthcare costs. Infection prevention and control (IPC) practices are essential to mitigate these risks. Intern medical officers, as frontline healthcare providers, must be proficient in IPC principles to ensure patient safety and safeguard their own occupational health. This service evaluation aimed to assess the effectiveness of a structured awareness program in improving the knowledge and skills of intern medical officers related to three key IPC components: safe blood culture collection, needlestick injury (NSI) prevention, and hand hygiene compliance.

Objectives

The objectives were to evaluate improvements in knowledge and skills regarding aseptic blood culture collection, to assess awareness enhancement regarding NSI prevention and post-exposure management, and to assess improvements in knowledge and compliance with WHO hand hygiene guidelines.

Design, setting, and methods

This service evaluation was conducted at the base hospital Tangalle using a structured multimodal training program. The program included PowerPoint presentations, interactive discussions, case-based discussions, and practical demonstrations. A total of 25 intern medical officers participated in the study. Pre-test and post-test assessments (15 single-best-answer questions) were used to evaluate knowledge improvement across the three IPC components.

Results

The mean pre-test score was 9.64/15, which significantly improved to 13.56/15 post-training (p < 0.05). The highest pre-test score was 13/15, increasing to 15/15 post-test, while the lowest score improved from 6/15 to 9/15. Topic-wise improvements included Safe blood culture collection, showing a 123.4% increase in correct responses; hand hygiene, with a 47.4% improvement; and NSI prevention, where pre-test knowledge of 95.2% improved to 100%.

Conclusions

This structured awareness program significantly enhanced the knowledge and skills of intern medical officers in IPC, with statistically significant improvements in all key areas. The highest knowledge gap was in safe blood culture collection, highlighting the need for further hands-on training. Future programs should include more practical assessments, periodic refresher sessions, and compliance monitoring to sustain IPC adherence in clinical practice.