Hand Hygiene Knowledge and Practice Among Medical Students in King Abdulaziz University Hospital.

Abstract

Background:Hand hygiene (HH) is considered the most beneficial method to reduce the incidence of Hospital-Acquired Infections. However, compliance to HH by healthcare workers are reportedly poor with a compliance rate of 40%. In spite of the reports concerning the knowledge of HH among medical students in many countries, Saudi Arabia has greatly lagged behind in this aspect. Aim: This study aims to evaluate HH knowledge and practice among first and last clinical years; (i.e. fourth and sixth year respectively) at King Abdulaziz University Hospital (KAUH), Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted on 261 medical students of fourth and sixth year, at KAUH in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. A covert observation was used to assess the practice and a 5-point Likert scale questionnaire was used for evaluating the students' knowledge. Both were based on the WHO five moments of HH. A consent was obtained from all participants. Data analysis was done using SPSS version 21 and Pearson's Chi-Square was used for association. Results: Medical students included in the study were fourth and sixth year students accounting as 157 (60%), and 104 (40%) respectively. Practice among sixth year students was found to be better than fourth year students (p = 0.004). As for the knowledge between fourth year and sixth year students it was found to be similar and markedly high (p = 0.5), ranging between strongly agree and agree in the questionnaire. Conclusion: Strict protocols are needed for the implementation of HH practice among students.

Knowledge, Attitude and Practice Study About Hand Hygiene Among Medical Students at University of Cyberjaya, Malaysia

“…As they advance to clinical years, those students do not receive enough education on how to apply proper HH in practice. [21] To add on, more of the year 5 students reported that it was difficult to practice HH due to time pressure and they had more important things to do than HH. This is due to their heavy workload and obstacles to perform HH such as overcrowded wards.…”