Knowledge and practice of hand hygiene among undergraduate students and junior doctors in the Regional Institute of Medical Sciences, Imphal.

Abstract

Context:Maintenance of proper hand hygiene among treating doctors and nurses is one of the most important measures to curb health-care-associated infections. Hand hygiene can prevent the spread of germs including those that are resistant to antibiotics and are becoming difficult, if not impossible, to treat. There are few published articles on similar topic in different settings in India but not in Manipur. Keeping this in mind, the study was conducted.Aims:To assess the knowledge and practice of hand hygiene among undergraduate students and junior doctors in rims, imphal and its association with the selected variables of interest.Settings and Design:Regional Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS).Methods and Material:A cross-sectional study was done on 924 participants by using a self-administered questionnaire. The data was analyzed using the software SPSS 21 version.Results:Of the participants, 49.1% had poor knowledge about hand hygiene; 14.3% had average knowledge, and 36.6% had good knowledge. Knowledge was significantly associated with the frequency of washing hands after patient contact or any laboratory procedure or after the removal of hand gloves (P < 0.001) and the frequency of following the six steps of hand washing (P = 0.001).Conclusions:Nearly half (49.1%) of the participants had poor knowledge about hand hygiene; more than one-tenth (14.3%) had average knowledge, and more than one-third (36.6%) had good knowledge.