Compliance with Infection Prevention and Control Measures in Primary Care: a Cross-Sectional Study

Background

Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) measures aim to safeguard patients’ and professionals’ safety in increased risk scenarios. In Portugal, minimum IPC measures for healthcare facilities were established in 2012 by the General Directorate of Health (GDH), but compliance is rarely evaluated.

Objectives

To evaluate compliance with the established IPC measures in primary care facilities and to identify quality improvement opportunities.

Methods

Observational study using data from primary care facilities in capital city (2025). Data were collected via onsite visits by a multidisciplinary team using a standardized tool provided by the GDH comprising 12 thematic areas and multiple assessed items.

Results

We analyzed 18 healthcare facilities belonging to the same institution. Compliance scores varied across the assessed themes, ranging from 100.00% (injectable drugs safety) to 53.94% (knowledge on IPC measures). Three additional criteria had compliance levels under 70%: residues collection (58.33%), medical equipment treatment (60.87%), and environmental control (62.50%). Furthermore, our assessment revealed heterogeneity in performance across units, with institution’s overall quality index (QI) averaging 76.98% for processes and 71.46% for structures, masking wide disparities between the best and worst performing units.

Conclusions

Despite moderate overall compliance with IPC measures, gaps remain in basic practices that should be uniformly implemented across all primary care facilities. The particularly low compliance observed in professionals’ knowledge may compromise the optimization of processes, reinforcing the need to strengthen training programmes and awareness strategies as key measures to improve overall QI. These findings highlight variability in IPC implementation across primary care facilities, underscoring the importance of targeted interventions and continuous monitoring to improve compliance and ensure patient and professional safety.

Key messages

• Despite moderate IPC compliance, our study reveals significant performance gaps within the same institution. We highlight urgent need for targeted training to ensure safety consistency across units.

• Our findings expose critical variability in basic IPC practices within primary care. Continuous monitoring and focused professional training are essential to bridge the gaps and ensure patient safety.