Effective practice of hand hygiene is one of the most important measures to prevent healthcare associated infections (HAIs) and antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and is an integral component of Infection prevention and control (IPC) programs worldwide. It is estimated that Effective hand hygiene can reduce by HAIs 50% or more.
Healthcare worker compliance to hand hygiene is generally much lower in low- and middle-income countries when compared to high income countries. Although it is known that effective hand hygiene practices can reduce HAI’s and improve safety for staff, patients, and visitors in health services, it appears that little is known about the knowledge, attitude, and practices of HCW in the Pacific Island Countries and Territories (PICTs) towards hand hygiene.
This project will undertake a scoping review of published literature to ascertain what is known about health care workers knowledge, attitudes, and practices relating to hand hygiene globally with a focus on ascertaining if there are differences between countries or regions.
Dr Matthew Mason
Lecturer, Nursing
Primary supervisor: Dr Matt Mason
Dr Matt Mason is an experienced academic and Early Career Researcher currently in the role of Academic Lead for Work Integrated Learning in the School of Health at UniSC. He has over 15 years of experience in Infection Prevention and Control with a focus on settings outside of tertiary hospitals, particularly in the Pacific. He is a credentialled in IPC by the Australasian College for Infection Prevention and Control at an expert level, is a technical adviser to the World Health Organization (WHO) Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network (GOARN), co-director of the Collaboration for the Advancement of Infection Prevention and Control, and an executive member of the Pacific Regional Infectious Disease Association. Matt is a recent PhD graduate (March 2023) with a developing program of research focussing on the preparedness of IPC professionals and programs.
HDR student mentor: Naomi Howell
Naomi Howell is a PhD Candidate and nursing academic in the School of Health at UniSC. She has a broad experience in acute medical nursing and has worked in the specialist nursing fields of infusion medicine and blood management. From working in Safety and Quality Naomi has extensive knowledge of how to apply quality improvement, evidence-based practice and patient safety frameworks in the clinical environment. Naomi is an Aboriginal woman who has completed her Bachelor of Nursing degree and Master of Nursing Clinical Leadership at UniSC. She is a Member of The Congress of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Nurses and Midwives and a clinical advisor to the office of the Health Ombudsman Queensland. Naomi is currently undertaking PhD studies in vascular access in geriatric populations and is a member of the Alliance for Vascular Access Teaching and Research.
External collaborators: Margaret Leong and Dr Peta-Anne Zimmerman
Margaret Leong is the Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) Advisor for the Pacific Community (SPC) and is based in Suva, Fiji. She has extensive experience at the Pacific Regional level and understands the regional IPC challenges and is works with IPC focal points to strengthen IPC capacity in the Pacific Island Countries and Territories. Margaret has 30 years of experience working in the public sector both as a nurse clinician and in senior Nursing leadership roles in Fiji. Her previous senior positions with the Fiji Ministry of Health and Medical services includes Chief Nursing and Midwifery officer (Fiji) and Director of Nursing role at the Colonial War Memorial hospital. Margaret is the pioneer for IPC in Fiji and spent many years working as an IPC officer and was also instrumental in establishing the Fiji Clinical Risk Management program.
Dr Peta-Anne Zimmerman is an internationally respected clinician, educator, and researcher in infection prevention and control (IPC). Dr Zimmerman’s experience in IPC spans over 20 years and her domestic clinical experience, research, and expertise has led her to work extensively in China, South East Asia and the South Pacific, on outbreak response, the development of comprehensive infection prevention and control programmes, and on the integration of public health and acute care response in infectious disease emergencies, in low and middle income country settings.
The student will gain skills in conducting a scoping review that is compliant with best practice and PRISMA guideline.
The student will be asked to assist on the project by:
- Assist with the design and methodological development of a scoping review
- Participate in a comprehensive literature search
- Participate in extracting and analysing data for a scoping review
- Contribute to the analysis of resulting data
- Participate as an author in the development of a manuscript for publication
Key deliverables will include:
- Contribution to a scoping review as part of an academic team
- Contribution to a manuscript involving authors from UniSC, The Pacific Community, and Griffith University
- Following successful completion of these tasks, the student will be eligible for authorship in any subsequent publication of these outputs.
This project would suit a student with background understanding of, and an interest in health, infection prevention and control, and/or evidence-based health policy.
In addition to the general ACPIR Summer Research Scholarship eligibility criteria, it would be useful for undergraduate students to have successfully completed an introduction to research course within their program of study.
For more information on the project and details of the scholarship please contact Dr Matt Mason via email.