Abstract
M.Tech. (Chiropractic)
Objective: The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of
a hygiene educational intervention on the consulting chiropractic students’
attitude, awareness and behaviour within the chiropractic day clinic
environment.
Methodology: Pre-intervention sampling of the chiropractic treatment bed
surfaces were collected using a Bio-wipe. Separate Bio-wipes were used to
collect samples from the covered beds split-piece head rests, arm rests,
body pieces and foot rests of each chiropractic treatment bed. The Bio-wipe
was placed back into a sterile solution in sterile WhirlPak bags in order to
maintain a moist environment. The samples were then mixed with
phosphate buffered saline (PBS) to remove bacteria and used to determine
bacterial population by flow cytometry analysis. A SYBR® Green I staining
procedure was used to discriminate stained bacteria from debris in all
chiropractic treatment bed samples.
The hygiene educational intervention was then implemented, whereby
students were requested to participate in completing a survey which aimed
to investigate their attitudes, awareness and behaviour towards disinfecting
protocols. A short video was compiled by the Water and Health Research
Centre (University of Johannesburg, South Africa) and myself. This was
played to all participants in a class discussion demonstrating an intervention
program that promoted the importance of hygiene within the clinical
environment. A step by step method on how to clean the beds was compiled
and demonstrated in the video. Distel, a disinfectant was supplied as the
product of choice to be utilised by the students.
The post intervention sampling (identical to the pre-intervention sampling
mentioned above) was once again conducted, six-weeks later. All data was
recorded and collected by the researcher and sent for statistical analysis by
STATKON...