Nurses' Perception of Safety on Hospital Interior Environments and Infectious Diseases: An Exploratory Study

Healthcare environments consist of a variety of different fomites containing infectious agents. From the 2003 outbreaks of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome to the recent concerns about the Ebola and Zika viruses, interest in the role of healthcare environment fomites in spreading infectious diseases has increased. Because of a high risk of being exposed to infections, the goal of this study was to learn how hospital interior environments impact nurses' perceptions of safety about infectious diseases.

Semistructured, in-depth interviews were conducted with six nurses at a public hospital.

The following three themes were identified: (1) perceptions of safety from infectious diseases were diverse among the participants; (2) various interior environments in hospital settings can prevent as well as promote the spreading of infectious diseases; and (3) the different perceptions influenced the ways participants developed their contrasting behaviors of treating interior environments to cope with their fears (e.g., how they open doors).

The findings from this study contribute to the existing body of knowledge on designing hospital interior environments to better understand nurses' perception of infectious diseases.