Physiotherapists' Awareness of Infection Prevention and Behaviors

Abstract

This study aimed to clarify the awareness of behaviors of infection prevention among physiotherapists. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 18 physiotherapists who worked in the rehabilitation room at five facilities. The contents related to infection prevention awareness and behavior were analyzed using qualitative inductive analysis and evaluated to encode for some of the similarities, such as contents similar category contents. Infection prevention awareness of physiotherapists was encoded as 432 and classified into 98 sub categories, 28 categories, and 5 core categories. Core categories with a large number of codes such as "The gap in infection prevention awareness among professions, and awareness of crisis management" and "Difficulty of rehabilitation adjustment due to the increase in the number of infectious disease patients and a sense of crisis to super-aged society" were generated. Infection prevention behavior of physiotherapists was encoded as 684 and classified into 93 sub categories, 25 categories, and 7 core categories. Core categories with a large number of codes such as "A systematic wearing and removing of protective clothing against infectious diseases and instructions, and regular white uniforms/linen changing" and "Strict cleaning on a daily basis, and if contaminated, cleaning according to an infectious disease information report and confirmation" were generated. Physiotherapists who have a lot of patient contacts need to understand the following regarding the standard precautions: it is not decided based on the absence of infection or health condition and implementation of compliance. In addition, they should judge themselves according to infection cases and aim to acquire knowledge with evidence.