Educational interventions to improve compliance with disinfection practices of noncritical portable medical equipment: A systematic review

Abstract

Objective: To describe educational interventions that have been implemented in healthcare settings to increase the compliance of healthcare personnel (HCP) with cleaning and disinfection of noncritical portable medical equipment (PME) requiring low-level disinfection (LLD). Design: Systematic review. Methods: Studies evaluating interventions for improving LLD practices in settings with HCP, including healthcare students and trainees, were eligible for inclusion. Results: In total, 1,493 abstracts were identified and 1,416 were excluded, resulting in 77 studies that underwent full text review. Among these, 68 were further excluded due to study design, setting, or intervention. Finally, 9 full-text studies were extracted; 1 study was excluded during the critical appraisal process, leaving 8 studies. Various forms of interventions were implemented in the studies, including luminescence, surveillance of contamination with feedback, visual signage, enhanced training, and improved accessibility of LLD supplies. Of the 8 included studies, 4 studies reported successes in improving LLD practices among HCP. Conclusions: The available literature was limited, indicating the need for additional research on pedagogical methods to improve LLD practices. Use of visual indicators of contamination and multifaceted interventions improved LLD practice by HCP.