Highlights
- •Outbreak and exposure response creates a substantial workload for nurses and IPs.
- •Interprofessional perceptions of workload vary by organism and outbreak.
- •Quantifying burden may inform all stakeholders to respond more effectively.
Background
Staff nurse and infection preventionist (IP) workload increases in response to exposures
and outbreaks. Understanding the time burden associated with responding to specific
pathogens may improve resource allocation. The purpose of this study was to evaluate
workload increases reported by nurses and IPs in response to common exposures and
outbreaks.
Methods
Surveys were distributed to nurses in a New York hospital network and to IPs who attended
the 2018 Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology annual
conference or to IPs who were members of local Association for Professionals in Infection
Control and Epidemiology chapters. Respondents were asked to rate their daily workload
increase and to rank their most time-consuming activities in response to exposure
and outbreak scenarios.
Results
A total of 150 nurses and 228 IPs responded. Among the nurses, >60-minute workload
increases were reported for Clostridium difficile (76%), lice or scabies (46%), and influenza (45%). Among the IPs, >60-minute increases
were reported for mumps or measles (66%), tuberculosis (64%), and C difficile (50%). Among the nurses, isolation precautions, patient and family education, and
staffing changes were the most frequently reported time-consuming activities. Among
the IPs, chart review, exposure list compiling, and preventive measures for exposures
were the most frequently reported time-consuming activities.
Conclusions
Organisms that are easier to treat and more difficult to spread, such as scabies or
lice, can contribute substantially to nursing workload. Notably, three-quarters of
the nurses and one-half of the IPs reported that C difficile adds >1 hour to their daily workload.
Key Words
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Article Info
Publication History
Published online: April 10, 2019
Footnotes
Funding/support: This study was funded by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (R01HS024915) Nursing Intensity of Patient Care Needs and Rates of Healthcare-Associated Infections. A.J.H. was supported by a grant (1K01OH011186) funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The contents are the sole responsibility of the authors and do not represent the official views of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention or the Department of Health and Human Services .
Conflicts of interest: None to report.
Identification
Copyright
© 2019 Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology, Inc. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
