A Methodological Approach to Identify Key Performance Indicators and Measures in Maintenance Services in Infection Control

Abstract

Hospital-acquired infections (HAIs) are a major problem in the United Kingdom (UK) and worldwide. The UK has one of the worst rates of hospital-acquired infections (HAIs) in Western Europe. One reason for such poor performance is the failure of healthcare officials to tackle the root causes of HAIs in the National Health Service (NHS). The position of healthcare officials is that HAI is mainly a clinical issue; requiring the attention of clinicians. As a result, most of the infection control policies and guidelines do not sufficiently address the non-clinical causes of HAIs in the NHS. There is strong epidemiological evidence suggesting that HAIs can also occur because of the poor performance of facilities management (FM) services. An example of an FM service that has a strong link with HAI is healthcare maintenance. Despite being linked to such infections as aspergillosis, legionnaires etc, healthcare maintenance services (HMSs) in the NHS have nonetheless failed to attract the attention of healthcare authorities. In this study therefore, we examine the methodological approach in identifying the key performance indicators and measures in HMSs in infection control. This study is divided into two main sections. In the first section, we examine different research paradigms, as well as, the rational for choosing interpretivism in this study. The second section, which is on the research design, examines the research methodology and research methods applied in this study. Addressing these methodological issues is important in identifying the key performance indicators and measures in HMSs in infection control.

Read More: http://ascelibrary.org/doi/abs/10.1061/9780784412909.069