Interventions for preventing or controlling healthcare-associated infection amongst healthcare workers or patients within primary care facilities: a scoping review.
BACKGROUND
This review aimed to synthesize the evidence on infection prevention and control (IPC) interventions for the prevention of healthcare-associated infection (HAI) amongst healthcare workers (HCW) or patients within primary care facilities.


METHODS
PubMed, CINAHL, EMBASE and CENTRAL databases were searched for quantitative studies published between 2011-2022. Study selection, data extraction and quality assessment using Cochrane and Joanna Briggs tools, were conducted by independent review with additional sensitivity checking performed on study selection.


RESULTS
Four studies were included. A randomized trial and a cross-sectional survey, respectively, found no statistical difference in laboratory-confirmed influenza in HCW wearing N95 versus medical masks (p=0.18) and a significant inverse association between the implementation of tuberculosis (TB) control measures and TB incidence (p=0.02). For the prevention of surgical site infections following minor surgery, randomized trials found non-sterile gloves (8.7%; 95% CI, 4.9%-12.6%) to be non-inferior to sterile gloves (9.3%; 95% CI, 7.4%-11.1%) and no significant difference between prophylactic antibiotics compared to placebo (p=0.064). All studies had a high risk of bias.


CONCLUSION
Evidence for IPC interventions for prevention of HAI in primary care is very limited and insufficient to make practice recommendations. Nevertheless, the findings highlight the need for future research.