Epidemiology Commons^™

Chiropractic Student Infection Control Practices And Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus Skin Infections, Jonathon Todd Egan

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Chiropractic training involves many hours of skin contact, and chiropractors have manual contact with millions of patients annually, but chiropractic has only had professional clinical hygiene guidance since 2010. Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is the most common cause of cultured skin and soft tissue infection (SSTI) in the United States. Using the epidemiologic triad of person, place, and time as a framework, this quantitative, cross-sectional study obtained the first assessment of MRSA SSTI incidence among chiropractic students and its association with infection control behaviors (hand and table hygiene, sharing gowns, and sharing lotion) and initiation of patient care. The study …