Hygienic practices of consultant anaesthetists: a survey in the North-West region of the UK

Questionnaires were distributed to all 213 consultant anaesthetists in the North-West region of the UK with a response rate of 68%. These questionnaires were designed to assess the hygienic precautions taken to reduce the potential for transmission of infectious agents to and from the patients under their care. Face masks and gloves were always used by 35.2% and 14.5%, respectively, while only 36.4% washed their hands between cases. Most respondents have changed their practice since the recognition of HIV transmission (74.8%) and hepatitis B and C (69.8%). A high proportion of anaesthetists continue to administer anaesthesia despite suffering from respiratory (94%), gastrointestinal (42.9%) or herpes simplex (32.6%) infections. The anaesthetic breathing system was changed at the end of each day or following a high-risk case by 33.3% of the respondents, while just over 25% changed it following a known infected case. Bacterial filters were used by 17% and changed after each case by 7.2%. On a scale of 0–10 (10 = significant) anaesthetists rated their potential for transmitting or contributing to patient infection as a median of 3 (interquartile range: 2–6). The results of this study show that, although anaesthetists are well aware of proper hygienic practices, their performance falls short of accepted recommendations.