Introduction
With regard to relationships that can be found among the presented studies, it is obvious that they have many aspects in common but differ in approaches and the issues on which they focus most. Studies are aimed not only at understanding the compliance of infection prevention and control (IPC) within both hospitals and homes but also at identifying the nurses’ role in the process. These sources state the important nurses’ role in ensuring the safety of patients and the medical staff in the issue of infection control and mention their high responsibility, which links their work with biblical topics: “I will search for the lost, and I will bring back the lost, and I will bind up the wounded…” (English Standard Version Bible, 2001, Ezekiel 34:16). In the works, the idea of a high commitment of medical personnel in ensuring the safety of patients and the burden that they bear on themselves is traced.
The Similarities and Differences
Regarding strategies for IPC in hospitals and homes, the studies hold the view that home is a more complex place to ensure it. A safe environment for the professional activities of medical workers implies not only that medical staff is free from diseases but also that they can be confident in their actions’ correctness and have all the supplies. The studies have some differences regarding the IPC’s strategies’ compliance as they are focus on different settings. For example, Adams et al. (2021) claim that the implementation of IPC is a complex process both at homes and hospitals. Houghton et al. (2020) focus only on IPC in hospital settings. On the contrary, Dowding et al. (2020) examine only home care settings.
Concerning nurses’ role, all the analyzed studies observe this issue. They do not contradict each other, consider nurses’ experiences important, and examine the nurses’ risks through interacting with them. Siahaan et al. (2021), interviewing the nurses, investigate the experience of nurses that work in the prevention and control of infectious diseases. Drowning et al. (2020) use qualitative studies along with nurse interviews to identify which strategies help medical personnel reduce the high risk of infection in patients. Wyer et al. (2017) showed nurses videos of patients analyzing the care level and tried to understand how nurses evaluate their work. Regarding obstacles that nurses might face within the work to prevent and control infections, researchers agree that among the challenges nurses face are not only the risk of infection. Houghton et al. (2020), while investigating the IPC issue in the context of COVID-19, claims that nurses frequently encounter difficulties with following the recommendations of local and international guidelines. Adams et al. (2021) found that nurses encounter uncomfortable conditions to ensure supervision in patients’ homes.
Conclusions of the Studies
All studies pay attention to the obstacles the nurses might face during their work in this field. Speaking about home health care nurses, Adams et al. (2021) came to the conclusion that one of the most dangerous barriers to infection control in homes is a dirty environment and a lack of IPC supplies. Siahaan et al. (2021) raise a similar topic and speaks about nurses’ lack of confidence confident in working with infection prevention. Wyer et al. (2017) concluded that the nurses could demonstrate their willingness to improve health care. The main point that Dowding et al. (2020) actualized in their study is that there is a need to create a favorable environment to reduce the risk of infection. Moreover, it becomes difficult for nurses to determine dominant recommendations (Houghton et al., 2020). Most of these themes speak about features that do not allow nurses to provide adequate safety to the patient and are the reason that the work of nurses becomes dangerous for themselves.
Conclusion Based on the Found Relationships
To conclude, the studies cannot provide an unambiguous comparison of the complexity of controlling infectious diseases at home and in the hospital since they were carried out in different conditions. It can be said that researches focus on the different challenges and risks of nursing. Most of the aspects that the studies touch on indicate the difficulties that nurses face and their willingness to improve their work on their own.
The Overall Themes and Patterns
The overall themes and patterns, which can be outlined in the studies, are challenges for nurses and compliance with IPC’s implementation. With regard to the nurses’ obstacles, research, although it may draw on external sources, interacts with the nursing staff themselves and considers their experience to be important in analyzing the problems that may arise. They may differ from the analyzed aspects (some emphasize the feelings of nurses, others explore the self-analysis of staff), but all studies focus on the role of the nurse but consider different crucial challenges. In relation to IPC’s implementation at homes and hospitals, researchers agree that there are difficulties and dangers but do not give an unequivocal answer to whether it is more difficult to carry out the control.
References
Adams, V., Song, J., Shang, J., McDonald, M., Dowding, D., Ojo, M., & Russell, D. (2021). Infection prevention and control practices in the home environment: Examining enablers and barriers to adherence among home health care nurses. American Journal of Infection Control, 49(6), 721-726. Web.
Dowding, D., Russell, D., Trifilio, M., McDonald, M. V., & Shang, J. (2020). Home care nurses’ identification of patients at risk of infection and their risk mitigation strategies: a qualitative interview study. International Journal of Nursing Studies, 107, 103617. Web.
English Standard Version Bible. (2001). ESV Online. Web.
Houghton, C., Meskell, P., Delaney, H., Smalle, M., Glenton, C., Booth, A., Chan, X., Devane, D., & Biesty, L. M. (2020). Barriers and facilitators to healthcare workers’ adherence with infection prevention and control (IPC) guidelines for respiratory infectious diseases: a rapid qualitative evidence synthesis. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, (4). Web.
Siahaan, M., Handiyani, H., & Pujasari, H. (2021). Nurses’ experience in interacting with the infection prevention and control nurse. Enfermería Clínica, 31, S41-S44. Web.
Wyer, M., Iedema, R., Hor, S. Y., Jorm, C., Hooker, C., & Gilbert, G. L. (2017). Patient involvement can affect clinicians’ perspectives and practices of infection prevention and control: A “post-qualitative” study using video-reflexive ethnography. International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 16(1). Web.