- Published
- 01 January 2025
- Conference item
Challenges faced by nurses in implementing infection prevention and control guidelines during the COVID-19 pandemic: insights from Nepal
- Authors
- Source
- Antimicrobial Resistance & Infection Control
Abstract
Introduction:
In Nepal, infection prevention and control (IPC) efforts have evolved from basic sanitation guidelines in the 1980s to policies for diseases like tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS. However, COVID-19 pandemic revealed gaps in IPC, highlighting the need for standardised IPC guidelines across healthcare settings.
Objectives:
Explore the experiences of Nepalese nurses in implementing IPC guidelines during COVID-19 using behavioural change frameworks.
Methods:
This study employed a qualitative design, guided by Theoretical Domains Framework (TDF) and Capability, Opportunity, Motivation-Behaviour (COM-B) model. Online interviews were conducted with 12 registered nurses from Nepal. Nepali transcripts were translated into English using a forward-backward translation method. Data were analysed using Reflexive Thematic Analysis, supported by NVivo
software.
Results:
Five key themes emerged from the data analysis. Theme 1, ‘Adapting to Evolving Guidelines’, highlighted the challenges nurses faced due to the lack of national IPC guidelines and the reliance on
international guidelines during COVID-19, which were impractical in low-resource settings like Nepal. Theme 2, ‘Journey Through the Pandemic Psyche’, explored the emotional and psychological impact
of the COVID-19 pandemic on nurses’ ability to implement IPC guidelines. Theme 3, ‘Confidence in IPC Practices’, emphasised the importance of nurses’ knowledge, skills, and training in the implementation of IPC guidelines. Theme 4, ‘Organisational Influence’, stressed how leadership and infrastructure changes during the pandemic influenced adherence to IPC guidelines. Finally, Theme 5, ‘Beyond COVID19’, focused on how IPC practices evolved post-pandemic. These themes aligned with 11 of the 14 TDF domains. All components of the COM-B model, Capability (psychological), Opportunity (physical and social), and Motivation (reflective and automatic), influenced the implementation of IPC guidelines among nurses.
Conclusion:
This study provides a theoretical understanding of how behavioural, organisational, and environmental factors influenced the capability, opportunity, and motivation of nurses in Nepal to implement IPC guidelines. The findings offer a foundation for developing tailored IPC interventions in resource-limited settings, aiming to improve preparedness for future outbreaks or pandemics.
Rights
© The Author(s) 2025. Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License, which permits any non-commercial use, sharing, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if you modified the licensed material. You do not have permission under this licence to share adapted material derived from this article or parts of it. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons. org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
Cite as
Smith, J., Ness, V. & KC, D. 2025, 'Challenges faced by nurses in implementing infection prevention and control guidelines during the COVID-19 pandemic: insights from Nepal', Antimicrobial Resistance & Infection Control. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13756-025-01610-w