Infection control dogma: Top 10 suspects

As infection control evolved into an art and science through the years, man y infection control practices have become infection control dogmas (princip les, beliefs, ideas, or opinions). In this "Reality Check" session of the 4 th Decennial International Conference on Nosocomial and Healthcare-Associat ed Infections, we assessed participants' perceptions of prevalent infection control dogmas. The majority of participants agreed with all dogmas having evidence of efficacy, except for the dogma on the frequency of changing me chanical-ventilator tubing. In contrast, the majority of participants disag reed with dogmas not having evidence of efficacy, except for the dogma on p erineal care, umbilical cord care, and reminder signs for isolation precaut ion, As for controversial dog mas, many of the responses were almost evenly distributed between "agree" and "disagree." Infection control professional s were knowledgeable about evidence-based infection control practices. Howe ver, many of the respondents still believe in some of the non-evidence-base d dogmas.