Assessment of Hand Hygiene Attitude, Knowledge and Practice among Health Science Students in Aden University

Abstract

Background: A proper hand washing of community health care worker (CHCW) is universally accepted as an important factor in reducing Heath Care Associated Infections (HCAIs). This cross sectional study was done to assess the knowledge, the attitude and practice on hand hygiene among health science students in Aden University. Method: 329 participants from medical, dental and nursing schools completed the questionnaire (43.8% female and 56.2% males). 1st, 2nd and internship years were excluded from the study. The questionnaire is adapted from World Health Organization (WHO) tools for hand hygiene surveys. Epi info., an epidemiological software from the Centre of Disease Control (CDC), was used for data analysis. Results: Responses of the participants in the study indicated that the majority of the students were aware of Hand hygiene (>90%) and 60% have had some sort of training. There is an obvious lack of knowledge on hand movement i.e. my five moments of hand hygiene, particularly on the main source and route of cross contamination with pathogens in hospital setting. In hand hygiene practice, 95% of participants wash their hands before and after food intake, 85% of participants use soap and water, but 8% of participants use only water and very few use alcohol base cleansing agent. 84% of participants wash their hands after handling patient. There was no significant difference between males and females in hand hygiene practice. Conclusion: The study on assessment of knowledge, attitude & practice of students of medical sciences revealed that almost all participants were aware of hand hygiene. However, at this stage of assessment, knowledge and practice are below 100% score for the correct response in particular knowledge and practice.