• Yijing Xie, Edward B McNeil, Hutcha Sriplung, Yancun Fan, Xingsheng Zhao, and Virasakdi Chongsuvivatwong.
• Faculty of Health Management, Inner Mongolia Medical University , Hohhot, China.
• Postgrad Med. 2020 Sep 1; 132 (7): 643-649.

IntroductionRecent respiratory infectious disease (RID) outbreaks of influenza and the novel coronavirus have resulted in global pandemics. RIDs can trigger nosocomial infections if not adequately prevented.ObjectiveThe objective of this study was to rate the adequacy of healthcare workers (HCWs) and hospital settings on RID prevention using unannounced standardized patients (USP) in clinical settings of hospital gateways.MethodsTrained USPs visited 5 clinical settings: information desks, registration desks, two outpatient departments and the emergency departments in 10 hospitals across 3 cities of Inner Mongolia, China. USPs observed the hospital air ventilation and distance from the nearest hand-washing facilities to each clinical setting, then mimicked symptoms of either tuberculosis or influenza before observing the HCW's behavior. A total of 480 clinical-setting assessments were made by 19 USPs.ResultsThe overall adequacy of triage services was 86.7% and for prevention of the spread of airborne droplets was 83.5%. Almost all hospitals offered adequate air ventilation. Compared to the information desk, adequacy of triage and preventing the spread of airborne droplets by physicians in the three clinical departments was less likely to be adequate. Triage services for USPs simulating symptoms of influenza were 2.6 times more likely to be adequate than for those simulating symptoms of tuberculosis but there was no significant difference in the prevention of the spread of airborne droplets.ConclusionsThere is a need to improve respiratory infectious disease procedures in our study hospitals, especially in outpatient and emergency departments.

47 keywords...

hide…