Changes in Compliance with Recommended Infection Control Practices and Affecting Factors Among Dentists in Taiwan

Abstract

Compliance with recommended infection control practices in East Asia has not been clearly documented. To investigate changes in compliance with recommended infection control practices over a eleven-year period and to identify affecting factors, two nationwide cross-sectional surveys of dentists in Taiwan were conducted in 1999 and 2010. An anonymous questionnaire that assessed characteristics of dentists and practices of recommended infection control guidelines was mailed. Results showed that all infection control practices surveyed had improved in 2010. Factors affecting compliance with wearing basic protective barriers in 2010 were being female (odds ratio [OR]=3.631, p<0.001), aged forty-one to ifty years (OR=3.991, p<0.05), treating twentyone to thirty patients per day (OR=2.690, p<0.05), and having information sources from seminars and conferences (OR=2.659, p<0.05). Although infection control practices have improved over time, there is still much room to increase rates of wearing a head cap, protective eyewear, and a face mask and disinfecting impression materials. Providing correct information about disinfection and sterilization processes through the Internet might be effective in improving compliance.Hsin-Chung Cheng is Dean,

Awareness of droplet and airborne isolation precautions among dental health professionals during the outbreak of corona virus infection in Riyadh city, Saudi Arabia

“…This discrepancy in the knowledge could be explained by the fact that the present study was conducted during the outbreak of MERS and the referenced studies were carried out in the year 2005 and 2010, since those time lots of advancements have been made in the information-technology in spread of health alerts. There has been increase in the internet access and usage among dental professionals to receive information about infection control ( 11 ). Moreover, now a day’s internet is widely available and utilized to gain knowledge on evolving disease by many health care professionals including DHPs ( 12 ).…”

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“…As dental clinic sizes vary by area, we used the probabilities proportional to size (PPS) method [6] to randomly select subjects from different clinical settings in each area. A total of 60 hospitals and 340 dental clinics from four areas were therefore selected.…”

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