Perspectives of Infection Control Specialists Regarding Electronic Surveillance Reduce Respiratory Infections in Hospitalized Patients in Saudi Arabia 2024

Abstract

Background: The Saudi Health Electronic Surveillance Network's (HESN) stated goals are to help prevent and manage various health incidents and to make it easier to carry out other public health initiatives. HESN collects multiple patient data from hospital software to assist infection control specialists in the prevention and control of hospital-associated infections. This study aimed: To understand the perspectives of respiratory infection control specialists and the facilitators and barriers related to a profitable HESN and to assess its usability.
Methods: A mixed-method research approach was accepted among infection control specialists from January to August after the application of HESN in the hospitals in Taif at Saudi Arabia. To gather the opinions of experts on HESN and to comprehend the obstacles and enablers, a qualitative analysis based on individual semi-structured interviews was carried out. Thematic analysis and systematic coding were used to examine the qualitative data. The System Usability Scale (SUS) was used to conduct a quantitative analysis.
Results: There were thirteen experts in infection control. Technical, organizational, and human obstacles to the installation and use phases were identified through qualitative analysis, while five key facilitators were identified: the HESN's pertinent design, the enhancement of infection prevention and control procedures, the appointment of a specialist champion, training, and cooperation with the development team. With an overall median SUS score of 85/100, quantitative analysis showed that the assessed HESN was a "good" system in terms of perceived ease of use.
Conclusions: This study demonstrates how infection control experts view HESN's value in supporting inpatient respiratory infections. Both obstacles and enablers to the adoption and execution of HESN are revealed. To make it easier for other hospitals to deploy the software, these obstacles and enablers should be taken into account.