Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on infection control practices in a tertiary-care Spanish hospital: Preliminary results from a survey

Introduction: Hospitals rapidly prepared to identify, isolate, and take care of SARS-COV-2 cases while ensuring health-care workers (HCWs) safety. Initial shortages in personal protective equipment (PPE) and lack of hospital preparedness posed at risk infection control practices. Objectives: To assess the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on infection control practices in a tertiary-care hospital in Spain. Methods: An electronic survey was sent to 753 frontline HCWs on March, 2021. The survey included questions about hand hygiene, catheter maintenance, and PPE. More questions focused on the impact of COVID-19 on infection preventionists daily routine. Results: A total of 163 HCWs (21.6%) completed the survey [Intensive care unit: 32.5%;Infectious diseases unit: 22.7%;Pulmonology unit: 20.4%]. Sixty-seven were physicians, sixty-four nurses, twenty nursing assistants, four infection preventionists and eight other groups. Low compliance with hand hygiene prior to an aseptic procedure and after touching patient's environment was reported in 70.6% (115/163) and 82.2% (134/163) respondents. Barriers to infection control practices were: 1) Glove use was an interfering factor for compliance with the 5-moments of hand hygiene in 44.8% (53/163);2) regarding catheter care, 23.1% (15/65) of nurses reported problems with catheter dressings and, among them, 53.3% stated that dressing change was difficult with glove use. Further, 65.6% of nurses (42/65) recognized drawing blood cultures from the central venous catheter, instead of venipuncture 3) the incorporation of untrained personnel during the pandemic was perceived as a limiting factor for appropriate infection control practices in 47.2% (77/163). Finally, infection preventionists reported that during the first COVID-19 wave (March-June 2020), 70-90% of their activities shifted to COVID-19 issues, and this interfered in other duties. Conclusion: COVID-19 pandemic negatively affected infection control practices, namely hand hygiene and catheter use. The use of gloves and the need to rapidly incorporate untrained personnel were perceived as barriers for optimal infection control practices.