Roles of Infection Control Nurses in University Hospitals
Maleewan Kasetat MNS*, Thanarak Suwanpropis MSc**, Wilawan Senaratana MSc**, Wanchai Buppanharan MD***, Somwang Danchaivijitr MD****
Affiliation : *Lamphun Hospital, Lamphun, **Faculty of Nursing, Chiang Mai University, Chiang Mai, ***Department of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Vachira Hospital, Srinagarindviroj University, Bangkok, ****Department of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine Siriraj Hospital, Mahidol University, Bangkok
Objective : To evaluate the roles of infection control nurses (ICNs) in university hospitals.
Materials and Methods : Interviewing 23 ICNs in 6 university hospitals applying for hospital accreditation
during March and April 2002.
Results : The ICNs had an average work experience of 11.3 years. The roles relatively well carried out by the
ICNs were: administration, outbreak investigation, personnel health, education, consultation. Better perfor-
mance was needed in the roles of presenting surveillance data to infection control committee, research and
analyzing the needs and expectation of patients related to IC.
Conclusion : Infection control nurses in university hospitals could perform their roles relatively well. How-
ever, better roles in surveillance, research and quality improvement need to be developed.
Keywords : Roles, Infection control nurses, University hospitals
