Dataset Information

Food safety in hospital: knowledge, attitudes and practices of nursing staff of two hospitals in Sicily, Italy.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Food hygiene in hospital poses peculiar problems, particularly given the presence of patients who could be more vulnerable than healthy subjects to microbiological and nutritional risks. Moreover, in nosocomial outbreaks of infectious intestinal disease, the mortality risk has been proved to be significantly higher than the community outbreaks and highest for foodborne outbreaks. On the other hand, the common involvement in the role of food handlers of nurses or domestic staff, not specifically trained about food hygiene and HACCP, may represent a further cause of concern. The purpose of this study was to evaluate knowledge, attitudes, and practices concerning food safety of the nursing staff of two hospitals in Palermo, Italy. Association with some demographic and work-related determinants was also investigated.

Methods

The survey was conducted, by using a semi-structured questionnaire, in March-November 2005 in an acute general hospital and a paediatric hospital, where nursing staff is routinely involved in food service functions.

Results

Overall, 401 nurses (279, 37.1%, of the General Hospital and 122, 53.5%, of the Paediatric Hospital, respectively) answered. Among the respondents there was a generalized lack of knowledge about etiologic agents and food vehicles associated to foodborne diseases and proper temperatures of storage of hot and cold ready to eat foods. A general positive attitude towards temperature control and using clothing and gloves, when handling food, was shared by the respondents nurses, but questions about cross-contamination, refreezing and handling unwrapped food with cuts or abrasions on hands were frequently answered incorrectly. The practice section performed better, though sharing of utensils for raw and uncooked foods and thawing of frozen foods at room temperatures proved to be widely frequent among the respondents. Age, gender, educational level and length of service were inconsistently associated with the answer pattern. More than 80% of the respondent nurses did not attend any educational course on food hygiene. Those who attended at least one training course fared significantly better about some knowledge issues, but no difference was detected in both the attitude and practice sections.

Conclusion

Results strongly emphasize the need for a safer management of catering in the hospitals, where non professional food handlers, like nursing or domestic staff, are involved in food service functions.

SUBMITTER: Buccheri C

PROVIDER: S-EPMC1852552 | biostudies-literature | 2007 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Publications

Food safety in hospital: knowledge, attitudes and practices of nursing staff of two hospitals in Sicily, Italy.

Buccheri Cecilia C Casuccio Alessandra A Giammanco Santo S Giammanco Marco M La Guardia Maurizio M Mammina Caterina C

BMC health services research 20070403

<h4>Background</h4>Food hygiene in hospital poses peculiar problems, particularly given the presence of patients who could be more vulnerable than healthy subjects to microbiological and nutritional risks. Moreover, in nosocomial outbreaks of infectious intestinal disease, the mortality risk has been proved to be significantly higher than the community outbreaks and highest for foodborne outbreaks. On the other hand, the common involvement in the role of food handlers of nurses or domestic staff ...[more]

PMID: 17407582

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Project description:BACKGROUND:The possession of inadequate food safety knowledge (FSK) by food handlers poses a serious threat to food safety in service establishments. The aim of this research was to investigate factors that influenced the FSK and food safety attitudes (FSA) of employees involved in the preparation and/or the serving of food from nine hospitals in the Capricorn District Municipality (CDM) in Limpopo Province, South Africa. METHOD:Up to 210 individuals (18-65?years) who were employed in these hospitals, and who were involved in the preparation and serving of food to patients were purposefully selected. Data collection was by means of an interview using a questionnaire design for this study. The FSK and FSA scores of hospital food handlers were obtained by adding the correct response to FSK or FSA questions. RESULTS:Only 29% of the hospital food handlers have attended a food safety-training course. Many food handlers were not knowledgeable on the correct temperature for handling foods, and on the correct minimum internal cooking temperature for poultry, seafood and egg. Only the minority of food handlers knew that Salmonella is the main foodborne bacteria pathogen mostly associated with poultry products (47.1%) and that food borne bacteria will grow quickly in food at a temperature of 37?°C (38.1%). Hospital food handlers with higher academic qualifications do not possess more FSK than those with lower academic qualifications. 51% of the hospital food handlers possessed a Satisfactory FSK while 10% possessed a Good FSK and 39% possessed an Inadequate FSK. CONCLUSION:More than 60% of the hospital food handlers possesses either Good FSK or Satisfactory FSK. Higher levels of education, experience in food handling and job position did not lead to better FSK outcome. All the hospital food handlers possess at least a Satisfactory FSA. There was a weak positive but significant correlation between the FSK and FSA of hospital food handlers. It is recommended all employees involved in food handlers be subjected to food safety training programmes on a regular basis irrespective of their academic, employment and training details.

Project description:Background One of the most effective smoking cessation strategies involves care and advice from nurses due to their role in the front line of treatment. Lack of education on smoking cessation counselling may be detrimental, and adequate smoking cessation training during healthcare studies is needed. Objectives The study aimed to examine nurses’ attitudes, belief, and knowledge of smoking cessation counselling; knowledge of the health risks associated with smoking was also assessed. Design A cross-sectional survey on 77 nurses from the nursing staff of Cardiology, Cardiac Intensive Care and Surgical Oncology Units of two tertiary hospitals. Methods Cronbach’s alpha was calculated to assess the questionnaire’s internal consistency, and three composite indicators were computed to assess the three dimensions of the questionnaire (knowledge, attitude, belief). Furthermore, a stepwise linear regression model was used to predict the attitude to be engaged in smoking cessation counselling, related to demographic and behavioural variables, as well as knowledge and belief indicators. The analysis was stratified by Unit. Results Nurses from three Units had a significantly different attitude score (2.55 ± 0.93 for Cardiology, 2.49 ± 0.72 for Cardiac Intensive Care and 2.09 ± 0.59 for Surgical Oncology Unit) (P-value = 0.0493). Analogously, knowledge of smoking cessation counselling was reported to be higher for Cardiac Intensive Care Unit nurses (3.19 ± 0.70) compared to Surgical Oncology nurses (2.73 ± 0.74) (P-value = 0.021). At the multivariable analysis, attitude towards smoking cessation counselling was significantly related to the nurse’s belief about counselling, for Cardiology staff (coeff = 0.74, 95% CI [0.32–1.16], P-value = 0.002) and for Surgical Oncology staff (coeff = 0.37, 95% CI [0.01–0.72], P-value = 0.042). Conclusions Incorporation of smoking cessation interventions in nurses’ and nursing managers’ education could improve the nursing staff’s attitude, belief, and knowledge regarding smoking cessation counselling, which would lead to the inclusion of tobacco prevention and cessation as an integral part of patient care.

Dataset Information

Food safety in hospital: knowledge, attitudes and practices of nursing staff of two hospitals in Sicily, Italy.

Background

Methods

Results

Conclusion

Publications

Food safety in hospital: knowledge, attitudes and practices of nursing staff of two hospitals in Sicily, Italy.

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