Implementation of infection prevention and control quality standards in “mother & child care” primary health care center (PHCC) in Mechmech

Abstract

This thesis tailors the application of infection control and prevention quality standards in “Mother and Child Care” primary health care center-located in Mechmech in Akkar governorate. The execution of such standards can increase the well-being and the safety not only of health care providers but also of the clients visiting the healthcare facility. The project used Accreditation Surveyor Assessment Tool (ASAT) to assist standards and Individualized Rapid Assessment Tool for management of healthcare waste (I-RAT). The tools include variables related to hand hygiene and environmental cleaning, disinfecting and sterilization of the medical instruments and management of health care waste. These two Excel documents have been utilized for data collection and analysis. To rate standards an “X” has been placed to the criteria of choice: Not in Place, In Development, In Place, Leading Practice and Not Applicable. Whereas the I-RAT is comprised of a series of questions were most of it can be answered by YES /NO. ASAT showed the following overall percentages of IPC Standards: Not in Place 25%, In Development was 30%, while In Place showed 42.5%, no Leading practice and Not Applicable was 2.5%. While, the I-RAT showed that the overall result in percentage is 44.7% which means that the health care waste management is poor. The strategy used during the project focused initially on the missed or not in place crucial measures that can be achieved during the project period of time, and if it is implemented it will improve the Infection Prevention and Control purposes. In conclusion, the project has revealed quality issues such as and not limited to lack of regular education and audit on hand washing, the sterilization room did not guarantee the prevention of cross-contamination, no isolation space for patients with communicable disease and the absences of waste storage site. According to these results several interventions were executed and recommendation were developed for the organization and at the public health and policy levels to ensure the sustainability plan for infection prevention and control