Abstract
Hand hygiene is among the most important factors of infection control in healthcare settings. Healthcare workers are the primary source of hospital-acquired infection. We assessed the current state of hand hygiene knowledge, perception, and practice among the healthcare workers in Qassim, Saudi Arabia. In this cross-sectional study, we used the hand hygiene knowledge and perception questionnaire developed by the World Health Organization. Knowledge and perceptions were classified into good (80–100%), moderate (60–79%), and poor (<60% score). The majority of the healthcare workers had moderate knowledge (57.8%) and perception (73.4%) of hand hygiene. Males were less likely to have moderate/good knowledge compared to females (OR: 0.52, p < 0.05). Private healthcare workers were less likely (OR: 0.33, p < 0.01) to have moderate/good perceptions compared to the government healthcare workers. Healthcare workers who received training on hand hygiene were more likely to have good/moderate perception (OR: 3.2, p < 0.05) and to routinely use alcohol-based hand rubs (OR: 3.8, p < 0.05) than the ones without such training. Physicians are more likely (OR: 4.9, p < 0.05) to routinely use alcohol-based hand rubs than technicians. Our research highlighted gaps in hand hygiene knowledge, perception and practice among healthcare workers in Qassim, Saudi Arabia and the importance of training in this regard.
Highlights
Hand hygiene is among the most important factors of infection control in a healthcare setting
57.5% of healthcare workers belonged to the age group of 20–34 years, followed by the 35 or over age group (42.5%)
After adjusting for the effect of all demographic and professional variables included in the model, we found that males were 48% less likely to have moderate to good knowledge compared to females (OR: 0.52; 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.28–0.98; p < 0.05)
Summary
Hand hygiene is among the most important factors of infection control in a healthcare setting. Healthcare workers are often responsible for transmission of pathogens from one patient to the other through their contaminated hands [1]. Healthcare-associated infections are a serious burden to the healthcare settings. A recent meta-analysis reported that USD 9.8 billion was spent yearly by the hospitals in the USA to combat different types of hospital-acquired infections [2]. Reduced hand hygiene compliance is considered to be a global problem and compliance differs among different healthcare professionals [3]. Hand hygiene is defined as the primary measure known to be effective in preventing healthcare-associated infections and preventing the spread of antimicrobial resistance [4]
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