Abstract
BackgroundThe practice of hand hygiene (HH) has prime importance among Health Care Professionals (HCPs) and non-compliance could cause adverse consequences. By keeping the importance of HH in mind, this study aims at investigating the knowledge and attitudes towards HH among medical students and interns at King Abdulaziz University (KAU), Jeddah, Saudi Arabia (SA).MethodsThe study includes 453 medical students and interns (189 males & 264 females). This study was completed in three months; from September to November 2017. The World Health Organization (WHO) HH questionnaire was used and data were analyzed on SPSS-21.ResultsTwo-third of the participants 292 (64.2%) had formal training in HH in the last three years. Almost half of the participants 254 (56.1%) had correct knowledge regarding the major course of transmission of potentially detrimental microbes among patients in the healthcare premises. Just 124 (27.4%) of the respondents had the correct knowledge about the most common basis of germs accountable for healthcare-related infections. Females had significantly better knowledge than males regarding the type of HH technique needed before palpation of the abdomen (177(54%) Vs. 151(46%); P < 0.002), before an injection (175(54.5%) Vs. 146(45.5%); P < 0.007), after emptying a bedpan (207(64.7%) Vs. 113(35.3%); P < 0.001), following discarding examination gloves (256(60.4% Vs. 168(39.6%); P < 0.001] and after exposure to blood (200(64.1%) Vs. 112(35.%); P < 0.001). Female participants had better knowledge than males regarding the type of HH actions. Females also had a significantly better attitude towards the importance of HH than males (240(62.5%) Vs. 144(37.5%); P < 0.001).ConclusionThe majority of the participants’ knowledge regarding HH was not up to the mark; however, female students had better knowledge compared to male students. The medical students and interns’ knowledge and positive attitude towards HH can play a pivotal role in preventing HCPs associated infections and it would overall decrease the infection-related burden on the hospital and governmental budgets. It is suggested that multi-dimensional plans are required to change this low compliance to a higher rate.
Highlights
Healthcare-associated infections are considered a big problem affecting healthcare systems
The second, third, fourth, fifth and sixth years medical students and interns were included in this survey and ‘‘World Health Organization (WHO)’s hand hygiene knowledge questionnaire for healthcare workers’’ (WHO) was used to assess participants knowledge while attitude and practice questions were taken from another study (Nair et al, 2014)
The questionnaire comprised of a variety of questions including: ‘‘questions about training or seminars attended about hand hygiene in the past few months, awareness of the risk that they can be the source of cross-contamination in the hospital, and awareness of the effectiveness of hand hygiene to prevent healthcare-associated infections (HAIs).’’ it investigated the participants’ knowledge regarding ‘‘possible routes of contamination in healthcare facilities, most frequent sources of germs that can cause HAIs, hand hygiene actions that prevent transmission of germs to patients and healthcare workers, hand hygiene using soap and water and by alcohol-based hand rub, and actions that can increase colonization of germs in the hands.’’ included in the questionnaire are questions with ‘‘yes’’ or ‘‘no’’ answers, and multiple choice questions
Summary
Healthcare-associated infections are considered a big problem affecting healthcare systems. The World Health Organization (WHO) has presented strategies to help improve awareness and training of HH among all workers of the healthcare profession (WHO, 2009) These guidelines have been widely used by the hospitals, but are not significantly emphasized in the medical curriculum (Thakker & Jadhav, 2015). The medical students and interns’ knowledge and positive attitude towards HH can play a pivotal role in preventing HCPs associated infections and it would overall decrease the infection-related burden on the hospital and governmental budgets.
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