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https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-020-5057-2

has been cited by the following article:

• TITLE: Health Facilities Readiness to Implement Standard Precautions for Infection Prevention and Control in Tanzania: Lesson Learnt from SARA Reports

  AUTHORS: Joseph Christopher Hokororo, Omary A. Nassoro, Saumu Iddy Nungu, Radenta Paul Bahegwa, Ruth Raymond Ngowi, Yohanes Silipamwambo Msigwa, Laura Edward Marandu, Mwendwa Mwenesi, Chrisogone Justin German, Akili Mawazo, Michael M. Habtu, Grace E. Saguti, Tigest K. Mengestu, Eliudi Saria Eliakimu

  KEYWORDS: Infection Prevention and Control, Standard Precautions, Health Facilities Readiness, Safe Waste Disposal, Implementation of Standard Precautions

  JOURNAL NAME: Advances in Infectious Diseases, Vol.12 No.3, July 29, 2022

  ABSTRACT: Introduction: Standard Precautions are a set of measures applied in the care of all individuals/patients regardless of their infectious status aiming at preventing healthcare workers and patients from infections, preventing environmental contamination and spread of infections to the community. Many health facilities have not implemented them to an acceptable level. The purpose of the study is to report progress of improvement in health facilities readiness to implement standard precautions for infection prevention and control based on SARA reports. Methods: We generated mean scores of all standard precautions each year and calculated their standard deviations, variances and confidence intervals. One-way ANOVA was used to determine if the mean scores were equal. Finally, the trend of improvement in health facilities readiness to implement the standard precautions was generated. Results: A total of nine standard precautions were reported in SARA reports for 2012, 2017 and 2020. The mean scores of the standard precautions were 52.22% in 2012, 64.55% in 2017 and 69.66% in 2020. The overall trend showed an increase in health facilities readiness to implement standard precautions, although the mean scores were not statistically different (p-value 0.3217). Conclusion: SARA surveys conducted in Tanzania in 2012, 2017 and 2020 have shown an overall increase in health facilities readiness to implement standard precautions. Safe final waste disposal was being done in fewest facilities while single-use or auto-disable syringes were in most facilities that were sampled in all years. SARA surveys may be a useful way to evaluate Infection Prevention and Control adherence in health facilities.