Analyzing physician perspectives of infection prevention and control measures using mobile ethnography and...

Implementation science and sentiment analysis may help understand determinants of physician perspectives on infection prevention and control (IPC), with an aim to guide future IPC education efforts.

Mobile ethnography was employed between May and June 2024. Thirty English-speaking US physicians of various specialties completed 3-7 mobile journal entries over a 15-day period. The prompts asked questions related to IPC knowledge, feelings about IPC in their facilities, and daily challenges and successes. Deidentified journal entries were analyzed using the Theoretical Domains Framework to identify relevant determinants. Sentiment analysis was done on all coded journal entries to identify which frameworks correlate with positive physician sentiments.

Of 30 physicians recruited, 25 finished all 7 journal entries. The domains "environmental context" (25.1%) and "social and professional role and identity" (20.3%) were the most frequently coded. The 2 domains with the most positive sentiment score were "beliefs about capabilities" and "skills" (+4.84 and +4.19, respectively) and the 2 domains with the lowest sentiment score were "emotion" and "reinforcement" (-5.56 and -1.39, respectively).

Strong IPC programs require clinical environments that support IPC practices and recognize physicians as health care leaders. IPC education must include specific information on the implications of not adhering to IPC protocols for both patients and health care professionals.