Skin penetration operators' knowledge and attitudes towards infection control.

Objectives: To assess the knowledge and attitudes of owners/managers of commercial skin-penetration premises regarding infection control.

Methods: A telephone survey was conducted with a randomly selected sample of 874 owners/managers.

Results: Participants appeared to lack knowledge of essential infection-control practices. Less than 39% correctly identified recommended disinfection procedures, and between 12% to 67% were not aware of inappropriate sterlization procedures. Almost all participants accepted the need for guidelines. Half acknowledged a need to improve their infection-control compliance, and most accepted having their premises regularly checked by the councils.

Conclusions: There is a considerable opportunity to increase infection-control compliance among skin-penetration operators.