A study on knowledge about hand hygiene among medical, dental and nursing students in Bangalore, Karnataka

Abstract

Introduction: Hands are the main pathway of germ transmission during health care. Health care associated infections are the major concern when it comes to patient safety. Lack of hand hygiene leads to a serious problem in health care services as they may cause prolonged hospital stay. This study aims at assessing and comparing the knowledge regarding hand hygiene among undergraduate medical, dental and nursing students. Method: A cross-sectional, questionnaire-based study was undertaken among 150 undergraduate medical, dental and nursing students studying in a Tertiary care teaching Institute in Bangalore, Karnataka. Data collection was done using World Health Organization hand hygiene questionnaire for health care workers. Analysis was done using SPSS version 21. Results: A total of 150 students participated in the study. Of these 48 were medical, 50 were dental and 52 were nursing students. Only 87 out of 150 (58%) students had received training in hand hygiene in past 3 yrs. The medical and nursing students had very poor knowledge that unclean hands of health care workers can transmit harmful germs to patients, whereas dental students had better knowledge about the same and the difference was statistically significant. Knowledge regarding washing of hands after exposure to blood was better among nursing students than medical and dental students. Conclusion: The knowledge about hand hygiene was not satisfactory among the students. Hand hygiene training can be made mandatory for medical, dental and nursing students as they handle patients.