Knowledge, Attitude and Practice of Hand Hygiene among Nurses at a Teaching Hospital

Jaswant Goyal; Om Prakash Sharma; Uttam Kumar; Saryu sain; Barkha Gupta

Volume : VII, Issue : I, January - 2017

Knowledge, Attitude and Practice of Hand Hygiene among Nurses at a Teaching Hospital

Jaswant Goyal, Om Prakash Sharma, Uttam Kumar, Saryu Sain, Barkha Gupta

Abstract :

Background: Hand Hygiene is recognized as one of the most effective infection control measure in order to prevent nosocomial infection. The compliance of nurses with hand washing guidelines seems to be vital in preventing the disease transmission among patients. This study was undertaken to assess the knowledge, attitude and practice of hand hygiene among nurse in our institute. Material and Methods: A cross sectional study was conducted among 127 nurses in a teaching hospital in North India. Knowledge was assessed using WHO hand hygiene questionnaire. Attitude and practices were evaluated by using another self–structured questionnaire. Based on their responses, a scoring system was devised and their knowledge, attitude and practice were graded as good (>75%), moderate (50–74%) and poor (<50%). Results: The overall Knowledge on hand hygiene among the participants was good (116 out of 127, 91.33%). Their overall score on attitude (75%) and practices (58%) were found good and moderate respectively, which shows a positive finding. Though gaps in execution of knowledge were identified. Conclusion: This study reveals the necessity of refresher training on periodic basis so that their standard of practice could be increased.