Predictors of hand hygiene practice among Saudi nursing students: A cross-sectional self-reported study

Abstract

Hand hygiene is an important component of infection control, which is critical to ensuring patients' safety in hospitals. Nursing students are regarded as healthcare workers in training and can also be vehicles of cross-contamination within the hospital. Thus, this study aimed to identify the predictors of hand hygiene practice among Saudi nursing students. A descriptive, cross-sectional, self-reported study was conducted among 198 Saudi nursing students. Knowledge, attitude, and practice of hand hygiene were assessed using the WHO Hand Hygiene Knowledge Questionnaire for Health-Care Workers and its adopted scales. A regression analysis was performed to identify the predictors of hand hygiene practice. The respondents demonstrated moderate knowledge of hand hygiene (mean 13.20±2.80). The majority displayed a moderate attitude toward hand hygiene (52.1%), while only a few reported a poor attitude (13.1%). Approximately 68.7%, 29.8%, and 1.5% of the respondents reported moderate, good, and poor practice of hand hygiene, respectively. Having a good attitude toward hand hygiene, being male, being aware that hand hygiene is an effective intervention in preventing healthcare-associated infections (HAIs), attendance at hand hygiene trainings and seminars, and being in the lower academic level of nursing education were identified as predictors of better hand hygiene practice. The importance of ensuring a positive attitude toward hand hygiene and improving awareness of hand hygiene is emphasized, as are educational interventions. Educational interventions should be implemented to reinforce knowledge and instill a positive attitude toward hand hygiene.

Assessment of nursing students perceptions of their training hospital's infection prevention climate: A multi-university study in Saudi Arabia

“…Fourth, males have a better perception of infection prevention climate than females. This result is consistent with those who found that males exhibited better compliance with infection prevention and control than females (Cruz, 2018;Cruz and Bashtawi, 2016). However, this result negates that of another study, which reported that female nursing students have a more favourable infection prevention climate perception than males (Colet et al, 2015).…”

“…Respondents who participated in seminars on infection prevention in the last six months had better perceptions of infection prevention climate in their training hospitals than those who did not. This finding supports the work of other researchers that reported that the more nurses attended a workshop, the higher their motivation to practice infection control (Cruz, 2018;Cruz and Bashtawi, 2016). A study conducted in one tertiary care hospital in Saudi Arabia found that consistent training and workshop contributed to HAI reduction (Al Kuwaiti, 2017).…”

“…In a descriptive study by Livshiz-Riven et al (2014), poor psychological safety means greater medical errors in the treatment of patients. Cruz and Bashtawi (2016) found that inadequate supportive environment on infection control and environment-related problems are among the crucial issues that need urgent attention. Hence, improving the training hospitals' infection prevention climate is suggested, especially in promoting a supportive work environment and psychological safety, which were ranked as the lowest among the four infection prevention climate dimensions.…”

“…Although some studies highlight the significance of standard precautions training and education in various nursing schools, controversy surrounds the nursing students' perception of infection prevention climate in training hospitals (Cruz, 2018). Notably, although some findings highlighted the significance of sustaining high-quality infection prevention climate (Cruz and Bashtawi, 2016), they have different views in terms of the infection prevention climate influence in training hospitals (Cruz, 2018;D'Alessandro et al, 2014). Although some studies showed that infection prevention was cautiously practiced by health care professionals in Saudi Arabia (Colet et al, 2018), training hospitals' infection prevention climate among nursing students is not well described.…”

A multi‐university assessment of patient safety competence during clinical training among baccalaureate nursing students: A cross‐sectional study

“…However, these previous findings should be interpreted with caution because more than half of the respondents were female. The present finding may also be explained by the culture on gender differences in the KSA, where males are more socially dominant than females (Cruz & Bashtawi, ).…”