A study on the impacts of infection control education on dental hygienists' perceptions for hepatitis type B and their practices to prevent infection

Bo-Young Kim; Ji-Man Park; Eun-Jin Park

doi:10.4047/jkap.2014.52.4.287

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Kim, Park, and Park: A study on the impacts of infection control education on dental hygienists' perceptions for hepatitis type B and their practices to prevent infection

Original Article

J Korean Acad Prosthodont 2014;52(4):287-297.

Published online: 9 February 2014

DOI: https://doi.org/10.4047/jkap.2014.52.4.287

A study on the impacts of infection control education on dental hygienists' perceptions for hepatitis type B and their practices to prevent infection

Bo-Young Kim¹, Ji-Man Park², Eun-Jin Park^2,^∗

¹Graduate School of Clinical Dentistry, Ewha Womans University, Seoul, Republic of Korea

²Department of Dentistry, School of Medicine, Ewha Womans University, Seoul, Republic of Korea

^∗Corresponding Author: Eun-Jin Park Department of Dentistry, School of Medicine, Ewha Womans University 911-1, Yangchun-gu Mok-6-dong, Seoul, 158-710, Republic of Korea +82 2 2650 5042: e-mail, prosth@ewha.ac.kr

Received 20 June 201414 July 2014 Accepted 22 July 2014

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to examine the impacts of infection control education on dental hygienists’ perceptions for hepatitis B and their behaviors.

Materials and methods

Study participants were chosen by random selection among dental hygienists working in Seoul, Korea. A total of 150 questionnaires were sent out for the survey from April 2013 to May 2013, of which 140-excluding incomplete responses-were used for the study. Chi-square tests and t-tests were used (SPSS 19.0), and post-hoc analysis was performed as well. The maximum significance level was 0.05.

Results

Average 1.53 times infection control education was taken, but dental hygienists' perceptions for hepatitis B and their behaviors did not show statistical differences whether the education was done or not. Practices to prevent infection showed differences depending on categories, especially disinfection and sterilization were well performed by educated group. The most common reasons for not taking the education and noncompliance with infection prevention guidelines are lack of time and opportunity due to busy schedule.

Conclusion

1. The more highly educated, the greater number of patients per day, and the greater size of hospitals, the better infection control education was conducted. 2. Although hepatitis B is one of the most common chronic liver diseases in Korea, no significant correlation between perceptions of hepatitis B and infection control education was found. 3. Dental hygienists who received infection control education performed more efficient practices for protection against infections than those who did not.

Keywords: Infection control education, Hepatitis B, Infection control practices, Dental hygienist

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Fig. 1.

HBV awareness depending on infection control education.

Fig. 2.

Comparison of infection prevention practice depending on infection control education.

Table 1.

Major composition & contents of questionnaire

Composition	Classification	Questionnaire
General characteristics	Gender, age, education, working career, daily mean number of patients, hospital scale	6
Basic knowledge about Hepatitis B	Infection type, the route of infection, the number of carriers, clinical symptom, understanding degree, etc.	8
Infection control education	Helpfulness, the interrupting reasons for taking education	3
Infection control education completion	Infection control education taking numbers per year	1
Infection control performance	History taking, mask, glove, goggle	12
Total		30

Table 2.

Demographic data of respondents

Variables		n(%) or mean (SD)
Total participants' numbers		142
Gender	Male	4 (2.8)
	Female	138 (97.2)
Age		28.06 (4.87)
Level of education	College	58 (40.8)
	University	74 (52.1)
	Master's course	7 (4.9)
	Doctoral program	2 (1.4)
	No answer	1 (0.7)
Working career (year)		5.65 (4.72)
Daily mean number of patients		74.12 (142.45)
Hospital scale	Dental clinic	58 (40.8)
	Dental hospital	9 (6.3)
	Dental college hospital	21 (14.8)
	Dental department of medical center	53 (37.3)
	No answer	1 (0.7)

Table 3.

HBV awareness depending on infection control education

Variables		Infection control education n (%)		χ² (P-value)
Variables		No	Yes	χ² (P-value)
1. Hepatitis B is a viral infection.	No	10 (15.2)	24 (32.4)	5.722 (.057)
	Yes	52 (78.8)	47 (63.5)
	Don't know	4 (6.1)	3 (4.1)
2. The route of Hepatitis B infection is various besides blood.	No	14 (21.5)	21 (28.4)	1.113 (.573)
	Yes	48 (73.8)	51 (68.9)
	Don't know	3 (4.6)	2 (2.7)
3. Clinical symptoms of hepatitis B are fatigue and general weariness.	No	7 (10.6)	6 (8.1)	2.882 (.237)
	Yes	48 (72.7)	62 (83.8)
	Don't know	11 (16.7)	6 (8.1)
4. Hepatitis B could be infected by sexual contact.	No	19 (29.2)	27 (37)	2.039 (.361)
	Yes	35 (53.8)	39 (53.4)
	Don't know	11 (16.9)	7 (9.6)
5. Hepatitis B is the most common hepatitis in Korea.	No	7 (10.6)	14 (18.9)	7.243 (.027)
	Yes	48 (72.7)	57 (77)
	Don't know	11 (16.7)	3 (4.1)
6. Seven percents of Korean adults are Hepatitis carriers.	No	5 (7.7)	5 (6.8)	1.488 (.475)
	Yes	32 (49.2)	44 (59.5)
	Don't know	28 (43.1)	25 (33.8)

Table 4.

Treatment of the HBV contaminated instruments depending on infection control education

Variables	Infection control education n (%)		χ² (P-value)
Variables	No	Yes	χ² (P-value)
Autoclave after cleansing in separate antiseptic solution	38 (57.6)	51 (68.9)
Autoclave first, and then, 2 ^nd autoclave after cleansing	26 (39.4)	21 (28.4)	1.98 (.577)
Autoclave after cleansing with other patients' instruments	1 (1.5)	1 (1.4)

Table 5.

Comparison of infection prevention practice depending on infection control education

Variables	Infection control education Mean (SD)		² (P-value)χ
Variables	No	Yes	² (P-value)χ
History taking was done for all the patients	3.88 (1.02)	4.49 (0.76)	-4.029 (<.001)
Masks were worn during treatments	4.38 (0.82)	4.42 (0.81)	-0.291 (.771)
Gloves were worn during treatments	4.32 (0.88)	4.51 (0.69)	-1.397 (.165)
Goggles were worn during treatments	2.62 (1.19)	3.53 (1.11)	-4.631 (<.001)
Blood stained gauze was disposed of in medical waste box	5.33 (6.62)	4.76 (0.54)	0.746 (.457)
Medical burs were autoclaved for every single patient	3.36 (1.48)	4.15 (1.17)	-3.449 (.001)
Gowns were taken off when going out	3.05 (1.41)	4.19 (1.06)	-5.386 (<.001)
Water pipe disinfection was done in regular basis	3.09 (1.22)	4.27 (0.88)	-6.444 (<.001)
The surface of unit chair was disinfected after the treatment of infectious patients	3.80 (1.19)	4.42 (0.92)	-3.438 (.001)
Hand piece was autoclaved for every single patient	2.85 (1.39)	4.12 (1.16)	-5.897 (<.001)

Table 6.

Reasons for noncompliance with infection prevention guidelines

Variables	Infection control education n (%)		² (P-value)χ
Variables	No	Yes	² (P-value)χ
Too many patients (busy)	35 (53)	50 (89.3)
No protective equipment for preventing infection	16 (24.2)	0 (0)
No hospital manual	3 (4.5)	3 (5.4)	23.773 (<.001)^∗
No cooperation from dentists and staffs	5 (7.6)	2 (3.6)
Others	7 (10.6)	1 (1.8)

^∗ : Statistically significant with P<.05.

Table 7.

Reason for missing infection control education

Variables	Infection control education n (%)		² (P-value)χ
Variables	No	Yes	² (P-value)χ
Poor working condition	8 (12.1)	2 (25)
No opportunity for education	29 (43.9)	4 (50)
No need of education	2 (3)	1 (12.5)
Burden of continuing education costs	6 (9.1)	0 (0)	4.529 (.606)
Knowledge taken from undergraduate level is enough	5 (7.6)	0 (0)
Indifference	11 (16.7)	1 (12.5)
Others	5 (7.6)	0 (0)

Table 8.

Demographic differences depending on infection control education

Variables		Infection control education n (%) or Mean		² (P-value)χ
Variables		No	Yes	² (P-value)χ
Gender	Male	1 (1.5)	3 (4.1)	0.810^‡ (.368)
	Female	65 (98.5)	71 (95.9)
Age		27.39 (4.87)	28.82 (4.77)	-1.744^† (.083)
Level of education	College	35 (53.8)	21 (28.4)	16.364^‡ (.001)^∗
	University	28 (43.1)	46 (62.2)
	Master's course	0 (0)	7 (9.5)
	Doctoral program	2 (3.1)	0 (0)
Working career (years)		5.57 (4.77)	5.83 (4.72)	-0.329^† (.743)
daily mean number of patients		49.54 (43.29)	97.99 (193.25)	-2.044^† (.044)^∗
Hospital scale	Dental clinic	47 (71.2)	10 (13.7)	47.856^‡ (<.001)^∗
	Dental hospital	3 (4.5)	6 (8.2)
	Dental college hospital	5 (7.6)	16 (21.9)
	Dental department of medical center	11 (16.7)	41 (56.2)

^∗ : Statistically significant with P<.05,

^† : Result of two sample t-test,

^‡ : Result of Chi-square test.

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