Adherence to personal protective equipment use among nurses in Japanese tertiary care hospitals: what determines...

Though nurses have frequent contact with patients, their personal protective equipment (PPE) compliance rate is low, which poses a significant challenge in infection control.

To investigate the relative influence of specific factors on PPE compliance.

A sequential two-stage mixed-methods design was applied. In a qualitative study, semi-structured interviews were conducted from May to July 2018. In a quantitative study, a nationwide, cross-sectional survey was conducted from January to March 2019, in which a questionnaire was mailed to 735 nurses in 28 tertiary care hospitals in Japan.

In the quantitative study, 435 (59.2%) analysable responses were obtained. In the linear regression analysis, the lack of the knowledge that 'standard precaution was the fundamental infection countermeasure applied when patients had signs of infections, and these countermeasures could be terminated if there was no infection found' was significantly associated with decreased PPE adherence, whereas an antimicrobial-resistant bacteria outbreak or a ward shutdown due to an outbreak and the belief 'I must never be the cause of spreading infection' were significantly associated with increased PPE adherence. The β of standard coefficients and t-values of the items were -0.344, -7.784, 0.090, 2.089, 0.088, 2.018, respectively.

This survey systematically identified nursing-associated factors that contribute to PPE compliance. As a practical approach to ensure positive outcomes, we suggest educating nurses by providing adequate knowledge on appropriate PPE use and sharing outbreak or ward shutdown experiences.