Introduction: Infection control in animal health care is, as in human health care, most important to prevent and fight antibiotic resistance. Animal health can also influence public health. Basic hygiene routines; hand hygiene, routines for proper attire, and routines for personal protective equipment (PPE), such as protective aprons and gloves, represent the simplest and most important infection control and prevention measures. High compliance to these routines is important to achieve. However, due to few scientific publications in the animal health care arena, customized and efficient efforts have not been fully identified for this environment. Therefore, optimal oversight and compliance assessments are difficult to achieve. Similar to human health care, several infection control and prevention measures and responsibilities are addressed by nurses.
Objectives: To study compliance to basic hygiene routines and assess whether compliance differs between different animal health care professions, such as nurses versus veterinarians.
Method: A quantitative web-based survey about basic hygiene routines, was used to investigate compliance to basic hygiene routines among animal healthcare providers. The eligible respondent sample was comprised of 360-2600 providers. Difference in compliance among professions within animal health care was estimated using SPSS statistical analysis software.
Results: Of a possible 360-2600 possible respondents, 313 animal healthcare providers responded to our web-based survey. Significant differences in compliance among professions were not found (between veterinarians and veterinary nurses with a degree, and veterinarians versus nurses without a degree). Higher compliance was observed at larger animal hospitals and among personnel educated at their work place in basic hygiene routines. Hand disinfectant use before contact with patients was most often missed, as well as not wearing a protective apron or coat if risk for contact with body fluids was evident.
Conclusion: In contrast to previous practical experience and reports, our results showed no significant difference in compliance between animal healthcare veterinarians and nurses. Given our null findings, more studies are needed to identify hidden factors influencing compliance among animal health care workers, as well as attention to representative sampling. Even so, based on our results, potential interventions include enhanced work-based education programs on infection control and prevention, with attention to smaller (small to medium sized) animal health care clinics. Focus for such interventions should also address hand disinfection before contact with patients. In addition, more effective monitoring is required.