Staff compliance with infection control practices: application of behavioural sciences.

Microbiology and epidemiology have made significant contributions to the field of Infection Control. Most nosocomial infections which can be prevented are related to inappropriate patient care practices. However, it is extremely difficult to implement new infection control policies. To achieve staff compliance, infection control should learn from the behavioural sciences. Three related fields have been shown to be helpful in this respect: social psychology, consumer behaviour and organizational behaviour. Basic concepts from all three fields can be applied to the work of infection control for achieving staff compliance; the use of social power and the reasoned action model from the field of social psychology; the use of participatory decision-making from organizational behaviour; and the opinion leaders from consumer behaviour.