Authors (including presenting author) :
Tang KY(1), Wong CY(1), Tsang NK(1), Chan HW(1), Law KY(1), Siu SM(1), Lau KF(1), Woo WY(1)
Affiliation :
(1) Infectious Disease Center, Hospital Authority
Introduction :
The Infectious Disease Centre has a strict visiting policy in view of concerning the infection control and prevention policy. It may be difficult to comply for visitors and misunderstanding may cause conflicts between visitors and healthcare workers. A clear and comprehensive instruction is needed to optimize the cooperation of visitors and their compliance to infection control measures. A visitor guide in form of video is formulated to achieve the purpose.
Objectives :
1. To enhance visitors’ familiarity with the visiting policy, isolation facilities and environment of Infectious Diseases Centre (IDC)
2. To enhance visitors’ compliance with proper infection control measures
3. To relieve visitors’ anxiety and minimize potential conflict between visitors and HCWs through facilitating mutual cooperation and understanding
4. To provide consistent education and information to visitors
Methodology :
A tailor-made visitor guide video, regarding the visiting policy, infection control measures and settings of IDC, for visitors in Cantonese, English and Mandarin is regularly displayed on a TV located at the waiting area at each floor of IDC during visiting hours (12:00-13:00; 17:30-19:30).
Pre-intervention and post-intervention questionnaires for evaluation of the effectiveness of visitor guide video were distributed to IDC ward staff and visitors. A 5-point Likert Scale is used to rate the questions with 1 referring to strongly disagree and 5 referring to strongly agree.
Result & Outcome :
A total of 166 questionnaires were collected and the overall result showed statistically significant improvements (p< 0.05). After the introduction of the visitors’ guide videos, the overall satisfaction in the orientation increased from 3.9783 to 4.3261 and 2.8082 to 3.7534 among the visitors and staff respectively. IDC ward staff expressed they encountered less visitors who were unfamiliar with the visiting policy (4.1081 to 3.3514) and thus can help in relieving visitors’ anxiety and reducing conflicts between visitors and ward staff. The visitors’ perceived knowledge level of the infection control measures and visiting policy in IDC increased (4.0435 to 4.2826 and 3.9130 to 4.2391). Their confidence level in adhering to infection control measures was also boosted (4.0435 to 4.2826). They also rated their alertness to the infection control measures higher (3.8696 to 4.3370).
