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"Somebody else's problem?" Staff attributions of cause and risk of Meticillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus

"Somebody else's problem?" Staff attributions of cause and risk of Meticillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus
"Somebody else's problem?" Staff attributions of cause and risk of Meticillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus
Background: meticillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is endemic within the United Kingdom health care sector. Recent campaigns to reduce health care-associated infection have rested on increasing staff accountability and ownership of the problem and its solutions. However, the existence of reservoirs of colonization in the community now creates ambiguity about sources, which may undermine preventative strategies.

Methods: the theoretical framework of causal attribution was applied to explore staff biases in perceptions and effects on infection control behaviors on both sides of the hospital/care home interface. Forty-four staff from 1 acute care hospital and 53 staff from 6 care homes estimated prevalence, risk, and sources of MRSA. Focus groups (6 care home and 8 hospital) were used to elicit group perceptions.

Results: staff tended to attribute the causes of MRSA to external (not self) human factors including patient risk factors and poor infection control practices of others. Teams tend to attribute their “successes” in infection control to dispositional attributions (good team policy and performance) and attribute “lapses” to situational factors (client group, patient movement, work pressures).

Conclusion: variations in information needs, ownership, and infection control practices could be addressed by better interorganizational working and support for staff teams to assess their own responses to the proble
Infection control, MRSA, nursing homes, infection prevention
0196-6553
Morrow, Elizabeth
06f05597-f184-42f5-b3b5-9d15e2613e2a
Griffiths, Peter
ac7afec1-7d72-4b83-b016-3a43e245265b
Rao, G. Gopal
8f9dbbfc-b270-4ef3-b606-b9130d48d5a0
Flaxman, Debbie
8aea341e-fdd4-42ae-926f-e6dd350162d8
Morrow, Elizabeth
06f05597-f184-42f5-b3b5-9d15e2613e2a
Griffiths, Peter
ac7afec1-7d72-4b83-b016-3a43e245265b
Rao, G. Gopal
8f9dbbfc-b270-4ef3-b606-b9130d48d5a0
Flaxman, Debbie
8aea341e-fdd4-42ae-926f-e6dd350162d8

Morrow, Elizabeth, Griffiths, Peter, Rao, G. Gopal and Flaxman, Debbie (2011) "Somebody else's problem?" Staff attributions of cause and risk of Meticillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus. American Journal of Infection Control, 39 (4). (doi:10.1016/j.ajic.2010.06.018). (PMID:21030114)

Record type: Article

Abstract

Background: meticillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is endemic within the United Kingdom health care sector. Recent campaigns to reduce health care-associated infection have rested on increasing staff accountability and ownership of the problem and its solutions. However, the existence of reservoirs of colonization in the community now creates ambiguity about sources, which may undermine preventative strategies.

Methods: the theoretical framework of causal attribution was applied to explore staff biases in perceptions and effects on infection control behaviors on both sides of the hospital/care home interface. Forty-four staff from 1 acute care hospital and 53 staff from 6 care homes estimated prevalence, risk, and sources of MRSA. Focus groups (6 care home and 8 hospital) were used to elicit group perceptions.

Results: staff tended to attribute the causes of MRSA to external (not self) human factors including patient risk factors and poor infection control practices of others. Teams tend to attribute their “successes” in infection control to dispositional attributions (good team policy and performance) and attribute “lapses” to situational factors (client group, patient movement, work pressures).

Conclusion: variations in information needs, ownership, and infection control practices could be addressed by better interorganizational working and support for staff teams to assess their own responses to the proble

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More information

Published date: May 2011
Keywords: Infection control, MRSA, nursing homes, infection prevention

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 167309
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/167309
ISSN: 0196-6553
PURE UUID: 73c52b20-6820-45f1-a883-45eeafc55810
ORCID for Peter Griffiths: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0003-2439-2857

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Date deposited: 11 Nov 2010 10:06
Last modified: 14 Mar 2024 02:56

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Contributors

Author: Elizabeth Morrow
Author: Peter Griffiths ORCID iD
Author: G. Gopal Rao
Author: Debbie Flaxman

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