Knowledge, Attitude, and Practice Regarding Hand Hygiene among Healthcare Professionals in a Tertiary Care Hospital

ABSTRACT

Healthcare-Associated Infections are a global health problem, which are frequently transmitted via the hands of healthcare workers. Hand hygiene (HH) is a simple and effective measure to reduce them. This retrospective cross-sectional study made use of a structured pre-tested and validated questionnaire, comprising three questions to assess knowledge, four to assess practice, and one to assess attitude. The study received 245 responses, grouped into doctors and nursing Staff. It was observed that cumulatively 80.95% of the participants had correct knowledge, 95.92% had the correct attitude, while 47.14% followed correct practices. Individually, more doctors had the correct knowledge (82.54%), right attitude (98.94%), and perform correct practices (53.44%) with respect to hand hygiene, as compared to nursing staff (75.60%,85.71%, and 25.89%, respectively), which contrasted many other studies. We therefore conclude that while healthcare professionals possess sufficient knowledge, and have the right attitude regarding HH, there is substantial deficit in complying with the five moments of HH. This can be addressed by conducting regular trainings and audits, to improve the HH compliance, thereby reducing the incidence of HAI.

Keywords: Attitude, hand hygiene, healthcare associated infections, knowledge, practice.