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Factors influencing stethoscope cleanliness among clinical medical students
C Saunders1, L Hryhorskyj, J Skinner
1College of Medicine and Veterinary Medicine, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK. edinburghmedic@googlemail.com
Abstract:
This study aims to identify current stethoscope hygiene habits and attitudes in a UK medical school setting. Students completed a questionnaire using Likert-scale questions and free-text answers. A total of 308 questionnaires were completed from a potential 750 students (41%); 22.4% of respondents had never cleaned their stethoscope and only 3.9% cleaned their stethoscope after every patient. Significant correlations were identified between cleaning frequency and: others acting as role models (P = 0.001), students having confidence in how to clean stethoscopes (P = 0.001), and students thinking cleaning was important (P = 0.01), thereby highlighting inadequate education and role models as potential problems.
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