PSQH Quick Poll 2022: Taking the Pulse of Infection Prevention Efforts

By Jay Kumar

As part of PSQH’s celebration of International Infection Prevention Week, we decided to reach out to our readers with a few questions to find out the state of infection prevention efforts.

The Quick Poll had a total of 209 respondents.

Infection prevention efforts

Asked to rate the infection prevention efforts of their organization, 57.4% of respondents said their program was extremely effective, 39.2% said their organization’s infection prevention was somewhat effective, and 3.4% said their efforts were not effective.

Organizational preparedness for infectious disease outbreaks

As U.S. healthcare organizations continue to battle COVID-19 and other viruses, another flu season is right around the corner. From an organizational standpoint, a majority of respondents (62.7%) to the PSQH Quick Poll said they are very prepared for infectious disease outbreaks. Another 34.9% said they are somewhat prepared for future outbreaks, while 2.4% say they are not prepared.

Strength in various areas

We queried respondents on their perceived level of strength in various infection control areas. When it comes to healthcare-associated infection prevention, 50.2% of respondents say they are very strong, 39.2% say they’re somewhat strong, 9.6% say they are somewhat weak, and 1% say they are very weak. With hand hygiene compliance, 33% of respondents say they are very strong, 49.8% say they are somewhat strong, 12.4% consider themselves somewhat weak, and 4.8% say they are very weak.

Infectious disease surveillance and reporting was the strongest area, with 64.6% of respondents saying they were very strong, 25.8% saying they were somewhat strong, 8.1% saying they were somewhat weak, and 1.4% saying they were very weak.

In the area of employee education and health, 35.4% say they are very strong, 47.4% say they are somewhat strong, 14.4% say they are somewhat weak, and 2.9% say they are very weak. With regards to isolation, 49.3% say they are very strong, 37.2% say they are somewhat strong, 11.1% say they are somewhat weak, and 2.4% say they are very weak. And in the final category of sterilization and disinfection, 54.1% say they are very strong, 37.3% say they are somewhat strong, 5.7% say they are somewhat weak, and 2.9% say they are very weak.

 

The emergence of monkeypox

Monkeypox arrived in the U.S. this year, and while the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says the spread is slowing down, transmission of the disease in the U.S. is unlikely be eliminated in the near future. As of September 30, there have been 26,049 total cases and two deaths in the U.S. Respondents to the PSQH Quick Poll were asked how serious of an issue monkeypox is for their organization. Eleven percent of respondents said it was extremely serious, 29.7% said it was somewhat serious, 48.8% said it was not serious, and 10.5% said they were unsure.