Hand Hygiene Perception and Practice Among Health Care Workers in Saudi Hospitals: A Cross Sectional Survey

Abstract

Hand hygiene is recognized as the leading measure to prevent transmission of microorganisms and to reduce the incidence of health care associated infections in the hospitals. It is estimated that annually millions of patients are suffering from healthcare associated infections; however, hand hygiene is one of the most important contributing factors to healthcare acquired infections. A descriptive cross sectional design was utilized. 160 participants were included consisting of all accessible health care professions. A questionnaire adopted from the World Health Organization perception survey of health care workers was utilized, gathering data about the demographic data, the attitudes, and the opinions toward hand hygiene. The majority of the participants were females, young and from the nursing profession. Most of them reported that they had received previous education and they routinely use alcohol-based hand rub in their daily clinical practice. The majority believes that the availability of alcohol-based hand rubs at each point of care, receiving education on hand hygiene, and the use of hand hygiene posters have a great effect on the compliance with hand hygiene at the hospital. Half of the participants believe that the infection control committee members are the best to remind them to perform hand hygiene; while, most of them doesn't prefer patients or their relatives as a reminder to perform hand hygiene. In conclusion, the respondents reported a high self-efficacy in performing hand hygiene and positive attitudes toward hand hygiene as one of the most effective strategies to reduce health care associated infections.

Hand hygiene practices among healthcare workers in a newborn unit of a tertiary referral hospital in Kenya

“…Over 80% of respondents perceived that education, simple and clear instructions on HH, and availability of ABHR were the most effective measures of improving HH compliance. Similar findings have been reported in other studies (Al-Hosis, 2017; Sreegiri et al, 2018). Lack of ABHR and disposable hand towels were the most frequently reported barriers to appropriate HH practices.…”

Barriers and facilitators on hand hygiene and hydro-alcoholic solutions' use: representations of health professionals and prevention perspectives

“…This would make it possible to cancel out certain irrational beliefs, according to which ABHR have no scientifically proven effectiveness. These facilitators for adherence to HH have already been identified in other studies [ 32 , 44 ].…”

“…However, a study shows that most patients would be uncomfortable with the idea of questioning doctors about their HH unless they are explicitly invited to talk about it [ 45 ]. Thus, being proactive with patients and inviting them to talk about HH would encourage dialogue with them and would even prevent unwanted situations where patients directly confront caregivers on their HH [ 32 ].…”

“…These stipulate that to induce an individual to develop such behaviours, it is essential to look at the attitudes, representations, intentions, barriers, facilitators, and the perceived social norms that one identifies about the behaviour in question [ 27 , 28 ]. Studies to identify these elements in the context of HCAIs and HH are not lacking in the international literature [ [29] , [30] , [31] , [32] , [33] ]. However, those studies focus only on general perceptions of hygiene among healthcare professionals, while studies taking a deeper look into the ABHR are scarce [ 34 ].…”