Study Finds Substantial Gaps in Nurse Understanding of CDI Prevention

Knowledge of Clostridioides difficile infection (CDI) guidelines was lacking in a study of nurses in Italy, with less than a third aware that soap and water is the recommended handwashing method to curb the spread of infection. Researchers published their findings online in the journal Antibiotics.

“[E]ffectiveness of any intervention in nosocomial settings is strictly reliant on the work of nurses and other health care workers. However, despite the amount of literature available on the topic, little is known about compliance with infection control practice guidelines among nurses, and no data are available from Italy, one of the countries most heavily affected by antimicrobial resistance,” wrote corresponding author Francesco Vladimiro Segala, of the University of Bari Aldo Moro in Italy, and coauthors in the study background.

The study used data from a cross-sectional survey of 200 nurses from 14 hospitals in southern Italy.

Three-quarters of respondents reported routinely following CDI procedures, protocols, and guidelines, according to the study, yet only 46.5% said they used C difficile-specific bundles in daily practice.

A total 92% of nurses correctly assessed the clinical presentation of CDI, and 94% knew the transmission route. Nevertheless, the study found 23% did not include gowns among required personal protective equipment around patients with CDI, and 20% believed diagnosis requires a rectal swab. Just 28.5% identified hand washing with soap and water as the proper infection prevention control measure, and only 66% knew sporicidal agents should be used for environmental disinfection.

Female nurses and those with a higher level of education had better knowledge of CDI.

“In our population of Italian nurses, we recorded substantial gaps in knowledge in terms of CDI, in particular about handwashing methods and environmental decontamination routines,” researchers wrote. “Education of health care professionals is an important, and often forgotten, area in the fight against CDI and other health care-associated infections.”

Reference

Comparcini D, Simonetti V, Segala FV, et al. Nurses’ knowledge, attitudes and practices on the management of Clostridioides difficile infection: a cross-sectional study. Antibiotics. 2023;12(3):529. doi: 10.3390/antibiotics12030529