Does COVID-19 pandemic change hand hygiene compliance among the medical students and residents? A comparative study from a university hospital

Abstract

Aim: We aimed to find out if there is statistically significant difference in self-reported hand hygiene compliance among Year-5 medical students, Year-6 medical students, and residents in Gazi University Faculty of Medicine between right before and after the first confirmed case of COVID-19 in Turkiye. Materials and Methods: Two cross-sectional surveys were carried out to reveal self-reported hand hygiene compliance among participants right before and after the first confirmed case of COVID-19 in Turkiye. Participants were Year-5 and Year-6 medical students and residents in Gazi University Faculty of Medicine. Convenience sampling was used. There were 833 participants in total. The survey form consists of 10 items that were constituted by examining World Health Organization guidelines on hand hygiene. The compliance scores before and after the first confirmed case were compared by performing T-Test. Results: Out of 10 items, there was significant difference in Year-5 medical students’, Year-6 medical students’ and residents’ self-reported hand hygiene compliance scores between before and after the first confirmed case of COVID-19 in 6 items, 10 items, and 8 items, respectively (p<0.05). Conclusion: Significant increase in hand hygiene compliance was found right after the COVID-19 outbreak when it compared to before. The main factor behind the improvement would be extremely high levels of perceived risk created by outbreak.