Table 5 Barriers of diagnosing HAIs, according to an interview with 18 experts responsible for controlling infection

lack of collaboration of ICLNs*

“We must walk through the wards and ask one by one that the patients, for example, do not have fever today. Or, in the case of the patient who returned after surgery, why did he return? You did not report this culture, no, no, this one came from another hospital, this one came from another ward, staff did not report.”

Different responsibilities and heavy workload of ICNs**

“My infection control supervisor is not a full-time employee, I am a clinical supervisor, which means I have no free time as for infection control.”

lack of laboratory collaboration

“Lack of laboratory cooperation means, …. we monitor them every three months, it means that they really exist, but these are not reported.”

lack of motivation

We have been oppressed a lot … To be honest, we have little motivation, I was in the infection control group a lot, most of us have meetings … The least observed place is the infection control unit

Prescription of antibiotics before culture

“It is an overuse of antibiotics. The patient started antibiotics and then was sent for culture.”

lack of up-to-date knowledge

“Sometimes it means that the training was supposed to be a comprehensive training … which was a very incomplete training, that is, a book training… nosocomial infections are detectable after surgery. It is simpler …, but what about those three, respiratory infections and urinary tract infections? What do we intend to do? We do not have a set program.”