Learning from the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) epidemic

Area of Science:

• Nursing Practice Models
• Infection Control
• Patient Care Quality

Background:

• The SARS epidemic highlighted the need for nursing practices that minimize infection transmission and enhance patient-focused care.
• A modular nursing model was implemented to address these quality improvement needs.

Purpose of the Study:

• To compare conventional and modular nursing models in medical and surgical wards.
• To evaluate nursing activities, hand hygiene, time efficiency, and nurse-patient satisfaction.

Main Methods:

• Employed pre- and postintervention phases with quantitative and qualitative data collection.
• Utilized work sampling, interviews, questionnaires, patient satisfaction surveys, and hand hygiene audits.
• Conducted educational sessions between intervention phases for data triangulation.

Main Results:

• Modular nursing enhanced direct care activities and patient/family education frequency.
• Observed an increase in nurses' hand washing frequency, but time pressure led to lapses in compliance.
• Found positive correlations between perceived infection control competence and caring attributes.

Conclusions:

• Modular nursing models can influence nursing activities and patient education.
• Operational factors like time pressure and resource issues impact the effectiveness of infection control measures.
• The significance of nursing models extends beyond direct effects to encompass broader operational outcomes.