Perceptions of Nigerian healthcare workers towards hand hygiene: a qualitative study

Abstract

Introduction hand hygiene (HH) is an effective measure to reduce healthcare-associated infections and the growing burden of antimicrobial resistance. There is a need to understand the perceptions of healthcare workers towards its practice and the use of alcohol-based hand rubs (ABHR) to make recommendations to promote HH. Our study aimed to explore the perceptions of Nigerian healthcare workers towards HH and the use and availability of ABHR to suggest potential interventions to improve its practice as qualitative evidence in this field is limited in Nigeria. Methods a qualitative study design was utilized to understand the perceptions of healthcare workers towards HH and the use of ABHR at Adeoyo Maternity Hospital, Ibadan, Nigeria. Purposive sampling was used to recruit nineteen healthcare workers who were interviewed. Thematic content analysis was used to analyze the data generated. Results five themes emerged including discrepancies in what constitutes HH practice as participants, motivation for HH practice, a good knowledge of timing as regards practice, barriers to good practice and evidence of poor practice. Conclusion while many healthcare workers know about HH and self-reported compliance towards it seems to be high, knowledge gaps, lack of resources, absence of regulations and poor working conditions were impediments to the successful implementation of HH practices. We recommend that hospitals institute well-articulated HH regulations, continuous education and training of healthcare workers. Hospitals should also ensure adequate provision of resources for hand hygiene and institute a continuous monitoring and feedback program to evaluate compliance with regulations.

Hand hygiene knowledge, perception, and self-reported performance among nurses in Kelantan, Malaysia: a cross-sectional study

“…These findings, on the other hand, contradict those of researches [ 19 , 32 ], which revealed no strong connection. Perceptions and self-reported HH performance have a significant correlation, according to the findings, which are similar to previous research [ 15 , 19 , 32 , 38 ]. As a result of the improved perception, particularly the perception of being a role model for other co-workers, hand hygiene compliance increased [ 20 ].…”

“…Hand hygiene promotion success necessitates not only the implementation of interventions, but also a better understanding of HCW perceptions of HCAIs and HH [ 15 ]. Individual characteristics such as behaviour and psychological determinants (knowledge, attitude, intentions, beliefs, and perceptions) may provide additional information on hand hygiene performance [ 16 ].…”

An Intra-COVID-19 Assessment of Hand Hygiene Facility, Policy and Staff Compliance in Two Hospitals in Sierra Leone: Is There a Difference between Regional and Capital City Hospitals?

“…Nevertheless, especially in low-income countries, there are still major obstacles hindering routine hand hygiene practices, including the lack of knowledge about hand hygiene among healthcare workers and the unavailability of resources [9,10]. However, the frequent outbreaks of high-risk infectious diseases could have increased the level of knowledge among medical staff of hand hygiene practices [11]. Paradoxically, however, similarly to other essential health services [12,13], the COVID-19 pandemic may have an unprecedented negative impact on the control and prevention of HAI [14].…”

How Well Are Hand Hygiene Practices and Promotion Implemented in Sierra Leone? A Cross-Sectional Study in 13 Public Hospitals

“…The mean hand hygiene level reported for the public hospitals in Sierra Leone (HHSAF score = 273) was lower than the global mean hand hygiene levels reported by WHO in 2011 (HHSAF score = 335) and 2015 (HHSAF score = 374) and that reported in the United States of America in 2011 (HHSAF score = 373) [ 19 , 20 ]. We were not able to find a comparable score in the global hand hygiene survey across LMICs where there are many barriers to successful hand hygiene practice, including limited knowledge and awareness of hand hygiene among healthcare workers and a lack of resources to practice hand hygiene [ 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 ]. These barriers may have resulted in lower mean scores for hand hygiene being reported from Sierra Leone and other LMICs.…”