Influence of clinicians' socio-demographic, professional and educational variables on their compliance with preventive measures against hepatitis B and C.
OBJECTIVE
To investigate the influence of a number of variables regarding clinicians' gender, social class, length of time since graduation and the level of knowledge on their use of available preventive measures against hepatitis B and C.


METHODS
A cross-sectional questionnaire-based survey was carried out involving a random and representative sample (n = 319) of the clinicians working in Recife, Pernambuco, North-East Brazil. The participants were interviewed by means of a questionnaire, prepared and pretested by the researchers. Pearson's chi-square and Fisher's exact tests were used in the statistical analyses (significance level: 5%).


RESULTS
Female clinicians were found to make more frequent use of equipment such as lab coats, scrub caps and masks (P = 0.0357). With regard to lab coat use in relation to social class, it was seen that clinicians from social class B used it less (P = 0.0077). The length of time since graduation was seen to be connected with the use of scrub caps (P = 0.0003), coating of equipment with polyvinyl chloride plastic film (P = 0.037), use of alcohol for cleaning equipment (P = 0.0012), two-handed recapping of needles (P < 0.0001) and immunisation (P = 0.003), showing that those who graduated most recently were more likely to take adequate infection control steps. The fact that clinicians had been informed about hepatitis B and C, and also their knowledge about its contagion, was positively associated with their levels of vaccination against HBV (P = 0.0313 and 0.0108, respectively).


CONCLUSIONS
The adherence to preventive practices against hepatitis B and C was shown to be connected with the clinicians' socio-demographic, professional and educational variables.
Brêda-Albuquerque
Felipe
F
Programa Institucional de Bolsas de Iniciação Científica, Faculdade de Odontologia da Universidade Federal de Pernambuco, Recife, 50670-910, Pernambuco, Brazil.
de Farias
Alan Bruno Lira
AB
do Prado
Marcela Gonçalves
MG
Orestes-Cardoso
Silvana
S
D000328:Adult; D001294:Attitude to Health; D002983:Clinical Competence; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D018562:Disease Transmission, Infectious / Q000517:prevention & control*; D004522:Educational Status; D005260:Female; D019983:Guideline Adherence / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006509:Hepatitis B / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000635:transmission*; D006526:Hepatitis C / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000635:transmission*; D006801:Humans; D019552:Infection Control, Dental / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D019239:Practice Patterns, Dentists' / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011481:Protective Clothing / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D013997:Time Factors