Abstract:
Introduction: Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) compliance has declined post COVID, with increasing prevalence of infection outbreaks especially during winter. The objective of this Quality Improvement Project (QIP) was to improve PPE compliance to >90% amongst medical staff on the children's ward. Multiple cycles were conducted to assess and improve compliance through education and use of visual aids.
Methodology: All medical staff ( physician associates, resident doctors and consultants) working on the children' s wards were included over a period of 4 months (Dec 2024 - March 2025). As part of the PDSA cycle, an initial anonymized survey(n=19) was conducted to assess staff’s knowledge and adherence to transmission based precautions. This revealed that 31.6% were knowledgeable about transmission based precautions and 1 in 4 staff members do not practice hand hygiene after each patient. Pre and post-intervention audit data was collected using a local Infection Prevention PPE audit tool.
Results: At the start of the project, overall compliance with PPE protocols was found to be about 88% with the lowest adherence noted in hand hygiene before putting on PPE. The major barrier was lack of awareness on the steps to putting on PPE and due to high pressure demand on the ward. We introduced targeted interventions such as: educational sessions and reminders on correct PPE use. Visual aids were also placed in clinical areas. Following these interventions, overall compliance improved to 95%.
Conclusion: Feedback was given to the Local Trust’s Infection Prevention unit with recommendation to ensure regular check in sessions with the units involved. This project emphasized the importance of incorporating practical sessions on effective PPE compliance and hand hygiene to improve patient outcome.
