this directly in the study , but that finding was interesting .”
“ Our findings prompt the need to examine what can be done to address compliance with infection precautions from a systems-level perspective ,” Haas says . “ In no way are we trying to place blame on individual workers , during a pandemic or any other time . What we ’ re trying to highlight from these study results are some ways that we can support healthcare worker knowledge engagement to help them adhere to practices that are going to keep them safe and keep patients safe . The Joint Commission emphasizes the importance of healthcare facilities being high-reliability organizations , but there have been few studies that really examine healthcare entities as a high-reliability organizations to the level of aviation and other high-risk industries . These results support the need to look at healthcare settings in this way and figure out how healthcare personnel interact with their organization , their environments , PPE , and other elements of care .”
That should include all healthcare personnel , the authors say . As Haas , et al . ( 2023 ) note , “… all three major job groups were completing tasks with / around patients who were infected with SARS-CoV-2 and were making errors associated with PPE utilization and hand hygiene , showing the need to improve emergency preparedness and response training . Research during the COVID-19 pandemic supports these points , indicating that training content and methods must be improved , and that hospital cleaning personnel were an under-recognized group for improving patient safety . Further , interviews with environmental health service employees during the COVID-19 pandemic revealed the need for ongoing training and education to recognize and prepare these employees as frontline responders to support and protect patients . Consequently , all job groups in healthcare settings need training about correct PPE donning and doffing , proper hand hygiene , and other guidelines .”
Ciccone emphasizes that “ Healthcare personnel who are outside the physician or registered nurse roles are still having a significant degree of interaction with patients , are at risk of transmission , and should be included in any sort of interventions to increase infection precaution adherence . Healthcare professionals like physical therapists and occupational
Healthcare personnel who are outside the physician or registered nurse roles are still having a significant degree of interaction with patients , are at risk of transmission , and should be included in any sort of interventions to increase infection precaution adherence .”
— Emily J . Ciccone , MD