The politics and ethics of hospital infection prevention and control: a qualitative case study of senior clinicians’ perceptions of professional and cultural factors that influence doctors’ attitudes and practices in a large Australian hospital

Table 2 Interview topics/questions used to prompt discussion with participants

1. In your view, to what extent do doctors generally regard healthcare associated infections or colonisation with multidrug resistant pathogens as significant problems in this hospital?
a. Do they/you believe that some/most could be prevented? b. What would it take to reduce the risks?
2. There is evidence from audits and published research that doctors often comply less consistently than nurses with infection prevention and control measures.
a. Is this consistent with your experience and, if so, why do you think it is so? b. Do you believe that it adversely affects patients’ outcomes?
3. What changes, if any, would you make in hospital infection prevention and control policies or their implementation to:
a. make them more acceptable to doctors, b. increase doctors’ adherence to them and/or c. achieve their goals of reducing risks to patients?

ISSN: 1472-6963