COVID-19 Pandemic and its Implication on Hand Hygiene Status by Alcohol-based Hand Sanitizers Among Healthcare Workers in Jimma University Medical Center, Ethiopia

Abstract

Background: Pandemic corona virus disease (COVID-19) is a global health crisis of our time. The consistent practice of hand hygiene, especially by proper use of alcohol-based hand sanitizers in health facilities and community is a cardinal step in combating it. This study was designed to assess self-reported level of knowledge, attitude and compliance to WHO recommended hand hygiene status by alcohol-based hand sanitizers among healthcare workers during a COVID-19 pandemic in Jimma University Medical Center, Ethiopia.Methods: Questionnaire-based descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted between April and June 2020. Data were analyzed using SPSS version 21 with significance level at p<0.05.Results: From a total of 96 volunteer study participants (27nurses; 21pharmacists, 15academicians, 13medical laboratory technicians, 7physician, 7dental doctors, 6midwives) 61 were males. Their mean age was 28.69+4.048years. Alcohol-based hand sanitizers were used by 95.8% respondents to prevent spreading of COVID-19. The majority (93.8%) of the respondents had good knowledge; 74% had a good attitude and 76% had good hand hygiene practices by alcohol-based hand sanitizers. They got information about this technique mainly from mass media 71(74%) and training (40.6%). 84.5% respondents were facing challenges during alcohol-based hand sanitizer use due to it is unavailable 66(68.8%), expensive 50(52.1%), forgetting 11(11.5%), experiencing and/or fearing health-associated risks (skin irritation(28.1%), skin dryness(62.5%), ocular irritation(11.5%), etc).Conclusion and recommendationThe majority of respondents had good knowledge; but the attitude and adherence to standard guidelines need improvement. The hospital should catalyze behavioral change, provide emollient containing hand sanitizers and educational courses to achieve and sustain improvements.

Adherence to COVID-19 preventive measures and associated factors in Oromia regional state of Ethiopia

“…As knowledge is the result of awareness based on obtaining appropriate information, it is supported by a study conducted elsewhere [ 7 ]. This finding is congruent with a study conducted in the Netherlands [ 21 ] which showed high information seeking behavior is associated with a good adherence to COVID-19 Preventive measures. This might be due to the fact that if the population had prior information about the utilization and advantage of the prevention measures [ 21 ].…”

COVID-19 knowledge, attitude and frequent hand hygiene practices among taxi drivers and associated factors in urban areas of Ethiopia

“…This result is in line with studies in Northwest Ethiopia 66.1% and 70.65% [37,57], in Nigeria 64% and in Cameroon 69% [44,47], and in Syria 63.5% [39]. But it is lower than found in other studies from Ethiopia 94.7% and 74% [41,42], Nigeria 79.5% and 80.6% [45,46], Malaysia 83.1% [51], Pakistan 86.5% and 75% [40,49], and from Bangladesh 78.9% [56]. The finding is higher than in some studies from Northwest Ethiopia 52.7% [57], from Uganda 21% [33], from Bangladesh 62.3% [68] and from Iran 59.3% [54].…”

“…In this study, 73.4% of taxi drivers always used alcohol-based hand sanitizer. It was lower than study findings from Jimma [41], where the use of alcohol-based hand sanitizer among healthcare workers was 95.8%. The lower utilization of alcohol-based hand sanitizer in our study area might be either because of no access to hand sanitizer due to high cost or less attention to the hand sanitizer.…”

“…This was higher than found in studies from China 42.05% [73], Poland 58.4% [27] and Japan 58.5% [74]. The result is also lower than the studies from Jimma among health care workers 76% [41], Jimma University medical center visitors 95.5% [35], from Amhara region 82% [31], from Nigeria 95.3% [44], from Malaysia 87.8% [51], and in United States 85.2% [75]. The difference in the proportion of good hand hygiene could be due to different target groups for the study, in that most studies were conducted among healthcare workers who have access to hand sanitizer and also it might be due to different study areas.…”

“…It is much higher than the findings from other Ethiopian studies 37.59%, 41.3%, 42.9%, 45.89% and 60.5% [34][35][36][37][38], from Syria 60% [39], and from Pakistan 54.3% [40]. But this finding was lower than in some studies in Ethiopia 93.8%, 88.2% and 74.7% [41][42][43], from Nigeria 78.6%, 99.5% and 86.6% [44][45][46], from Cameroon 84.19% [47], from USA 80% [48], from Pakistan 75.5% and 93.2% [49,50], from Malaysia 80.5% [51], from China 89%, 90% and 82.34% [20,52,53], from Iran 87.7% [54] and from Bangladesh 54.87% and 61.2% [55,56]. This variation might be caused by differences in the study area and type of questions used.…”