Infection control practices among Chinese physicians

Although sound infection control practices are essential within hospital settings, compliance rates among physicians may be suboptimal and this latter issue has rarely been studied in mainland China. Therefore, we surveyed a complete cross-section of physicians from a large teaching hospital in Shijiazhuang City, Hebei Province. Of the respondents, 54.1% said they never wore protective gloves whilst taking blood samples. Regular glove usage during gastric lavage, endotracheal intubation and indwelling urinary catheter insertion or removal was reported by 65.6%, 63.5% and 95.8% respectively. Most physicians (61.5%) washed their hands less than 10 times per work shift, with domestic soap being the most common method (71.1%). A complete course of Hepatitis B virus (HBV) vaccinations was reported by 64.3%, although 24.1% had not been vaccinated at all. Overall, our study suggests that infection control practices may be suboptimal among Chinese physicians. As such, a greater priority must be urgently directed towards improving compliance during clinical procedures in mainland China.