Impact of a training intervention on knowledge and practices of health-care workers about reprocessing reusable medical devices in a South-Tunisian University Hospital

Introduction. - Reprocessing of reusable medical devices (RMD) play an important role in the prevention of health-care associated infections. In this perspective, this study aimed to evaluate the impact of a training program intervention on health-care workers' (HCWs) knowledge and hospital practices about the reprocessing of RMD as a main strategic axis of infection control. Method. - We led a pre-post quasi-experimental study to evaluate knowledge of HCWs and to assess hospital practices in reprocessing RMD before and after a training intervention from May to November 2020 in Hedi Chaker University Hospital. A self-administrated questionnaire was distributed for each participant to assess knowledge. To evaluate practical skills, an audit grid was used. Results. - Overall, 30 participants were included. All HCWs had a fair level of knowledge before training. The knowledge score (KS) has significantly risen from pre to post-training (64/100 vs. 80/100; P < 0.001). When stratified by RMD type, a significant increase was noted on post intervention in KS about thermo-sensitive RMD reprocessing (P = 0.044) and sterilization of thermo-resistant RMD (P = 0.004). As for practice assessment, 5 (62.5%) departments had a fair level of practice. The conformity score (CS) did not significantly change from baseline to post-follow-up (53.5 vs. 56.2; P = 0.06). According to the audit sections, we did not find a sig-nificant change in the pre-and post-intervention CS in sterilization process (70 vs. 80; P = 0.06) and in the cleaning and decontamination steps (66.7 vs. 67; P = 0.18). Conclusion. - As opposed to practical skills, positive impact of the training intervention on HCWs knowledge was noted, which underlined the gap between theory and practice. (c) 2021 Academie Nationale de Pharmacie. Published by Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.