Infection Control Policies in Public Hospitals: Balancing Safety and Re-source Constraints.

Abstract

Objective: This study aimed to (i) evaluate the level of awareness and implementation of infection control (IC) policies among healthcare professionals, (ii) examine the accessibility of essential resources, (iii) identify obstacles to policy ad-herence, and (iv) propose feasible and cost-effective strategies for improving infection control in public sector hospitals of Sindh.
Methodology: Three major public hospitals were enrolled in this cross-sectional mixed-methods study. Healthcare pro-fessionals were provided with structured questionnaires to fill out, aimed at collecting data regarding their de-mographics, knowledge, practices, and perceived obstacles. The findings were further enriched by key informant inter-views and facility observations. Qualitative responses underwent thematic analysis, while quantitative data were exam-ined using descriptive statistics.
Results: 73.3% of participants were aware of their hospital's infection control policy due to formal training. Hand hygiene practices achieved the highest score of 3.8 out of 5, whereas incident reporting, consistent use of personal protective equipment (PPE), and adherence to sterilization protocols received the lowest ratings of 2.9, 3.4, and 3.2 out of 5, re-spectively. The uneven availability of resources was caused by frequent shortages of PPE and insufficient waste man-agement facilities. The primary challenges identified were overcrowding (66.7%), inadequate training (53.3%), and Sys-temic barriers result in inconsistent implementation of infection control policies, even though there is a relatively high level of awareness. In environments with constrained resources, the safety of patients and staff can be improved by strengthening infection control committees, increasing monitoring efforts, and applying cost-effective, high-impact strate-gies such as phased resource distribution, peer-led compliance assessments, and focused training.
Conclusion: Despite a high degree of awareness, systemic barriers lead to inconsistent application of infection control strategies. Strengthening infection control committees, stepping up monitoring efforts, and using high-impact, low-cost measures including phased resource distribution, peer-led compliance assessments, and targeted training can all help improve patient and staff safety in low-resource settings.

Keywords: Infection control, hospital-acquired infections, public hospitals, resource constraints, Pakistan, healthcare safety.