Abstract
M.Cur.
Nosocomial infections are a problem that threatens the health of hospital patients.
Nosocomial infections are transmitted to patients by cross infection activities. The nurse
works with different patients and can therefore be a source of infection. The patients in the
critical care units are especially susceptible to infections, because their immune systems are susceptible to diseases, surgical interventions, mal-nutrition, indwelling lines and -catheters. The purpose of this research study is to evaluate the application of infection control measures in critical care units of a private hospital. Guidelines were developed to improve the application of infection control measures. The purpose is attained by firstly the evaluation of the application of infection control measures by critical care nurses and secondly by determining if the structure of the critical care units facilitate the application of infection control measures. This is done with the aid of a literature-based control list.
A literature survey is done to compile the control list. A contextual, descriptive research
design was used for this study. After the completion of the control lists, descriptive statistics was used to analyse the data. The conclusion was reached that infection control measures are not applied in the critical care units. Firstly infection control measures are not applied by critical care nurses and secondly, the structure of the critical care units do not facilitate the application of infection control measures. Guidelines and recommendations are proposed for the application of infection control measures in the critical care units.