Factors associated with performance of infection control among some physical therapists

Purpose: Infection management is important for physical therapists in order to protect patients and themselves since they often provide patient care and have physical contact with patients. This study examined the performance of infection control and associated factors among physical therapists. Methods: The study subjects were 174 physical therapists working in the G metropolitan city. The performance of infection control according to general characteristics, job-related characteristics, and infection-related characteristics were compared using t-test and ANOVA. Associations between awareness and performance of infection control were tested by correlation. Finally, multiple linear regression analyses were performed to examine the factors associated with performance of infection control. Results: Overall performance scores for personal and therapy room were $87.47{\pm}11.70$ and $70.08{\pm}13.68$, respectively. Both personal and therapy room infection control were lower for the degree of performance than the degree of awareness. In multiple linear regression analysis, the degree of performance at a personal level was related to current smoking status, type of charge therapy, supply of protection equipment, and awareness of personal infection control. The degree of performance of therapy room was related to injury experience in the workplace, supply of protection equipment, and awareness of therapy room infection control. Conclusion: Performance of therapy room infection control was lower than that of personal infection control. The performance was associated with the supply of protection equipment and awareness. Therefore, the degree of performance for infection control will be increased with proper supply of protection equipment in the hospital and increase the degree of awareness with adequate prevention education.