A recently published cross-sectional study in the BMC Infectious Diseases journal provides illuminating insights into the current state of infection prevention and control management in obstetrics departments within secondary and tertiary medical institutions in Guiyang City, China. The study was designed to offer a basis for future improvements in this field.
Maternal and neonatal health can be significantly impacted by coinfection in pregnancy, and the effective and timely control of Healthcare-associated Infections (HAI) during maternal hospitalization presents a critical challenge to obstetrics departments. Of importance is the prevention of serious adverse neonatal and maternal outcomes, which make the containment of HAI essential. Existing evidence has already indicated that effective control measures can decrease HAI instances.
The study, conducted from July to December 2023, was a joint effort by the Guiyang Nosocomial Infection Control and Quality Improvement Center and 33 medical institutions. The collaboration resulted in an online survey querying five crucial areas: information about the participating hospitals, fundamental information about the obstetric department, assessment of HAIs, the room environment and its equipment, and the procedures encompassing cleaning and disinfection. Twenty-eight out of thirty-three hospitals participated, marking an 85% response rate.
Key findings of the study underscored the inadequacy of full-time Infection Preventionists in secondary and tertiary hospitals with the scarcity felt more in secondary hospitals. It was noted that secondary hospitals carried a higher percentage of nursing professionals with a marked lack of highly educated talent. The study, therefore, posits that secondary institutions should prioritize the recruitment of professional and well-structured Infection Preventionists to boost their infection prevention capabilities. Moreover, it is crucial to establish a rigorous nosocomial infection monitoring system with sound information monitoring capabilities.
Furthermore, the research study emphasized the pressing need for evaluating the prevention and control competencies of different hospital types, as past studies in this vein are noticeably limited. This lack of extensive research underlines the imperative of this study in shedding light on the current status of infection prevention and control management in obstetrics departments across various medical institutions in Guiyang City, providing invaluable data for future interventions.
Source: https://bmcinfectdis.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12879-025-10598-y