Healthcare staff's views on the patients' prerequisites to be co-creator in preventing healthcare-associated infections.
Elisabeth Berglund Kristiansson, Ulrika Källman
PMID 31250941WHAT IT FOUND
Staff rarely saw patients as partners in preventing hospital infections.
They described one-way information, sometimes scaring patients to mobilise, and said patients often waited for staff to act. Shared planning was not routine.
Key findings
01Healthcare staff generally saw patients as recipients of care rather than co-creators in infection prevention.
02Staff said patient involvement depended on unstructured routines, workload, and case-by-case judgement.
03Staff described using one-way communication, including informing, exhorting, forcing, and sometimes scaring patients about infection risks.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTs
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What it does not show
Only six healthcare staff from one hospital were interviewed. The interviewer was employed at the hospital's infection control unit and known to participants. The study reports staff perceptions, not patient outcomes. No infection outcomes were measured.
Declared interests
No external financial support was reported. No other conflicts of interest are stated.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that staff descriptions of scaring patients into activity show this prevents infection. The study reports staff perceptions and did not measure infection outcomes.