Barriers for effective hand hygiene among doctors- Do we need to change the existing curriculum

Dr. Vikramjeet Arora; Dr. Manju Bala

Volume : VIII, Issue : III, March - 2018

Barriers for effective hand hygiene among doctors- Do we need to change the existing curriculum

Dr. Vikramjeet Arora, Dr. Manju Bala

Abstract :

Background and aims:

Hand hygiene is simplest, cheapest and most effective step to reduce the health care associated infection. Unfortunately the compliance for this simple step is low among doctors despite the efforts done to improve it. Our viewpoint is that if certain small changes are made in the curriculum of medical students, it can go a long way in improving the compliance towards hand hygiene later in their carrier. We also suggested the various methods which can be applied right from the beginning of their medical graduation curriculum towards achieving this goal.

Methods:

A quantitative study was done among 48 doctors of different specialties in a tertiary care medical college to know the knowledge, attitude and practices regarding hand hygiene. An anonymous questionnaire based on CDC guidelines was used. The main focus was to enquire whether they are following WHO’s five moments of hand hygiene and the reasons for not adhering to it. Being a prevalence study collected data was expressed as percentages.

Results:

Of the 48 doctors surveyed 79% knew what is hand hygiene, 54% answered correctly regarding WHO’s 5 moments of hand hygiene but only 17% were correctly following it. Insufficient time (34%), forgetfulness (29%) and non availability of the hand hygiene agent (19%) were the main reasons for poor compliance.

Conclusion:

There is a gross gap between knowledge, attitude and practices regarding hand hygiene. Changes are needed at various levels including the changes in the curriculum of medical students to improve the compliance.