There are millions of workers in the healthcare industry. Though the health care includes doctors, laboratory technicians and physiotherapist, nurses are the major workforce in a healthcare industry. The number of patients admitted to the hospital is also increasing every year due to the rise in communicable and non-communicable diseases. The inadequate knowledge and practice of hand hygiene by the health care workers can leads to many healthcare associated infections to the patients. Therefore exploring nursing students’ knowledge and attitude toward hand hygiene are of high importance to public health policy makers and medical educators. The findings of perception showed that all the subjects 60 (100%) had positive perception towards hand hygiene. Regarding the practice majority 58 (96.67%) of the subjects exhibited adequate practice regarding hand hygiene when soap and water is used whereas only 45 (75%) of the subjects exhibited adequate practice when hand rub is used. Regarding the factors influencing hand hygiene ,the findings revealed that 35(58%) of the subjects practiced hand hygiene due to the influence of clinical supervisors, 29(48%) of the subjects practiced hand hygiene due to the display of posters and 23(38%) of the subjects practiced hand hygiene due to the fear of getting infection from the hospital. Whereas 24(40%) of the subjects did not perform hand hygiene due to unavailability of hand hygiene materials, 13(22%) of the subjects failed to practice hand hygiene because they felt that wearing gloves negated the need of hand hygiene, 12(20%) of the subjects did not practice hand hygiene due to inconvenient location of hand hygiene fascility,10(17%) of the subjects did not practice hand hygiene due to the lack of hospital protocols, 8(13%) of subjects did not practice hand hygiene due to emergency, forgetfulness and pressure of work .Similarly 7(12%) of the subjects did not perform hand hygiene due to unpleasant cleaning products. It was found that the baseline variables such as age, gender, year of study and allergic history did not show any statistically significant association with hand hygiene practice using hand rub or soap and water and there was no correlation between perception and practices.

Keywords: hygiene, Hand hygiene perception, Hand hygiene practice, Knowledge of hand hygiene

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1. Iqbal M, Zaman M, Azam N. Knowledge and perception of hand hygiene among health care workers of a tertiary care military hospital. Pak armed forces medical 2018; 68(5): 1372-77.
2. World Health Organization save lives clean your hands. A guide to implementation of the WHO multimodal hand hygiene improvement strategy, Geneva. Available from https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/a-guide-to-the-implementation-of-the-who-multimodal-hand-hygiene-improvement-strategy
3. Bingawi H, and et al. Hand hygiene perception and knowledge of Albaha University medical ISOR Journal of pharmacy. 2016; 7 ( 2): PP. 37-45.
4. Pittet Improving adherence to hand hygiene compliance; a multidisciplinary approach.Emerg infect dis, 2001; 7(2):234-240.
5. Harris AD, Samore MH, Nafziger R, DiRosario K, Roghmann MC, Carmeli Y. A survey on handwashing practices and opinions of healthcare workers. J Hosp Infect. 2000 Aug;45(4):318-21. doi: 10.1053/jhin.2000.0781. PMID: 10973750.
6. Abalkhail A, Mahmud I, Alhumaydhi FA, Alslamah T, Alwashmi ASS, Vinnakota D, Kabir R. Hand Hygiene Knowledge and Perception among the Healthcare Workers during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Qassim, Saudi Arabia: A Cross-Sectional Survey. Healthcare (Basel). 2021 Nov 24;9(12):1627. doi: 10.3390/healthcare9121627. PMID: 34946353; PMCID: PMC8701248.
7. Mathai E, Allegranzi B, Kilpatrick C, Pittet D. Prevention and control of health care associated infections through improved hand Indian journal of medical microbiology. 2010;28(2):100-106.
8. Subramanian RV, VivekIyer, Sandepsewlikar, Anish D. Epidemiology of health care acquired infection in Indian perspective on surgical site infection and catheter related blood stream Indian journal of asic d applied medical research, September 2014; 3 ( 4): 46-63.
9. Taneja N, Emmanual R et al. A prospective study of hospital acquired infections in burn patients at a tertiary care referral centre in North India. National library of Nov 2004; 30(7): 665-9.
10. Hamadah R, Kharraz R, Alshanqity A, AlFawaz D, Eshaq AM, Abu-Zaid A. Hand Hygiene: Knowledge and Attitudes of Fourth-Year Clerkship Medical Students at Alfaisal University, College of Medicine, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Cureus. 2015 Aug 24;7(8):e310. doi: 10.7759/cureus.310. PMID: 26430584; PMCID: PMC4581916.

There are millions of workers in the healthcare industry. Though the health care includes doctors, laboratory technicians and physiotherapist, nurses are the major workforce in a healthcare industry. The number of patients admitted to the hospital is also increasing every year due to the rise in communicable and non-communicable diseases. The inadequate knowledge and practice of hand hygiene by the health care workers can leads to many healthcare associated infections to the patients. Therefore exploring nursing students’ knowledge and attitude toward hand hygiene are of high importance to public health policy makers and medical educators. The findings of perception showed that all the subjects 60 (100%) had positive perception towards hand hygiene. Regarding the practice majority 58 (96.67%) of the subjects exhibited adequate practice regarding hand hygiene when soap and water is used whereas only 45 (75%) of the subjects exhibited adequate practice when hand rub is used. Regarding the factors influencing hand hygiene ,the findings revealed that 35(58%) of the subjects practiced hand hygiene due to the influence of clinical supervisors, 29(48%) of the subjects practiced hand hygiene due to the display of posters and 23(38%) of the subjects practiced hand hygiene due to the fear of getting infection from the hospital. Whereas 24(40%) of the subjects did not perform hand hygiene due to unavailability of hand hygiene materials, 13(22%) of the subjects failed to practice hand hygiene because they felt that wearing gloves negated the need of hand hygiene, 12(20%) of the subjects did not practice hand hygiene due to inconvenient location of hand hygiene fascility,10(17%) of the subjects did not practice hand hygiene due to the lack of hospital protocols, 8(13%) of subjects did not practice hand hygiene due to emergency, forgetfulness and pressure of work .Similarly 7(12%) of the subjects did not perform hand hygiene due to unpleasant cleaning products. It was found that the baseline variables such as age, gender, year of study and allergic history did not show any statistically significant association with hand hygiene practice using hand rub or soap and water and there was no correlation between perception and practices.

Keywords: hygiene, Hand hygiene perception, Hand hygiene practice, Knowledge of hand hygiene

🔒 This is a subscription article

Full text is available to subscribers and institutional members. Please choose an option below to access it.

1. Iqbal M, Zaman M, Azam N. Knowledge and perception of hand hygiene among health care workers of a tertiary care military hospital. Pak armed forces medical 2018; 68(5): 1372-77.
2. World Health Organization save lives clean your hands. A guide to implementation of the WHO multimodal hand hygiene improvement strategy, Geneva. Available from https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/a-guide-to-the-implementation-of-the-who-multimodal-hand-hygiene-improvement-strategy
3. Bingawi H, and et al. Hand hygiene perception and knowledge of Albaha University medical ISOR Journal of pharmacy. 2016; 7 ( 2): PP. 37-45.
4. Pittet Improving adherence to hand hygiene compliance; a multidisciplinary approach.Emerg infect dis, 2001; 7(2):234-240.
5. Harris AD, Samore MH, Nafziger R, DiRosario K, Roghmann MC, Carmeli Y. A survey on handwashing practices and opinions of healthcare workers. J Hosp Infect. 2000 Aug;45(4):318-21. doi: 10.1053/jhin.2000.0781. PMID: 10973750.
6. Abalkhail A, Mahmud I, Alhumaydhi FA, Alslamah T, Alwashmi ASS, Vinnakota D, Kabir R. Hand Hygiene Knowledge and Perception among the Healthcare Workers during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Qassim, Saudi Arabia: A Cross-Sectional Survey. Healthcare (Basel). 2021 Nov 24;9(12):1627. doi: 10.3390/healthcare9121627. PMID: 34946353; PMCID: PMC8701248.
7. Mathai E, Allegranzi B, Kilpatrick C, Pittet D. Prevention and control of health care associated infections through improved hand Indian journal of medical microbiology. 2010;28(2):100-106.
8. Subramanian RV, VivekIyer, Sandepsewlikar, Anish D. Epidemiology of health care acquired infection in Indian perspective on surgical site infection and catheter related blood stream Indian journal of asic d applied medical research, September 2014; 3 ( 4): 46-63.
9. Taneja N, Emmanual R et al. A prospective study of hospital acquired infections in burn patients at a tertiary care referral centre in North India. National library of Nov 2004; 30(7): 665-9.
10. Hamadah R, Kharraz R, Alshanqity A, AlFawaz D, Eshaq AM, Abu-Zaid A. Hand Hygiene: Knowledge and Attitudes of Fourth-Year Clerkship Medical Students at Alfaisal University, College of Medicine, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Cureus. 2015 Aug 24;7(8):e310. doi: 10.7759/cureus.310. PMID: 26430584; PMCID: PMC4581916.