Background: Nurses are the first point of contact for patients and are responsible for monitoring and reporting signs of infection. The COVID-19 pandemic cemented nurses' leadership role in infection prevention. Despite this, nurses' contribution to antimicrobial stewardship initiatives remains under-recognized.
Aim: To determine how paediatric nurses understood their role and contribution to antimicrobial stewardship and infection prevention and control practices in three different acute paediatric wards.
Methods: Forty-three nurses were recruited from an adolescent ward, an oncology ward, and a surgical ward in a metropolitan tertiary children's hospital for a qualitative exploratory descriptive study.
Findings: Thematic and content analysis derived three themes from the data: understanding of preventable infections; embracing evidence-based guidelines to protect the patient; and roles in preventing and controlling infections and antimicrobial stewardship. Associated subthemes were: desensitized to COVID-19; understanding infection prevention and control precautions; correct use of hospital policy and guidelines; restrictions associated with the use of electronic medical records; understanding of sepsis management and the importance of timely microbiological testing; ambivalence on antimicrobial stewardship roles; and high priority placed on consumer education.
Conclusion: Nurses' understanding of their role focused on practices such as performing hand hygiene, standard precautions, and reporting the use of high-risk antimicrobials. A lack of understanding of paediatric COVID-19 transmission and presentations was also reported. Education on best practice in infection prevention and AMS was recognized as crucial for both nurses and parents.
Keywords: Infection prevention and control; Nursing; Paediatrics; Patient education; Patient participation.
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