Abstract

Background: Airborne transmission of infectious diseases is a major public health concern. This airborne transmission becomes even more prevalent in health-care settings because of overburdened hospitals and the presence of patients with immune suppression.
Objective: To assess the administrative, environmental infection control, and standard precaution practices in the pulmonary medicine ward.
Materials and Methods: A hospital-based cross-sectional study was conducted to assess the airborne infection control practices by observation and predesigned semi-structured questionnaire, in the pulmonary medicine ward of a tertiary-care hospital of south Gujarat during May–June 2014. Result: The number of respondents in the study was 184. Among them, only 40% of patients with tuberculosis (TB) and 10% of patients without TB were using mask. Only one-third of the patients admitted in the TB ward and one-fourth of the patients without TB were properly disposing the sputum according to the standard precaution guidelines. When administrative services were assessed, only two in TB ward and four in directly observed treatment, short-course (DOTS) plus ward of the 13 services were according to the guidelines. In the environmental control measures, of six services, only one in TB ward and three in DOTS plus ward were fulfilling the guidelines. The personal protective equipments were not used by health-care providers. Conclusion: There was an operational gap in following the administrative and environmental airborne infection control measures in the pulmonary medicine ward.