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

Abstract

Background Nurses interact with patients 24 hours a day, and this connection has the potential to raise the risk of infection transmission to patients. Nursing plays a vital role in pre-venting healthcare-associated infections (HCAIs) by ensuring that hand hygiene (HH) practises are followed and maintained. The purpose of this study was to evaluate nurses’ knowledge, perceptions, and self-reported HH performance scores, as well as their correlation, in tertiary care hospitals in Kelantan, Malaysia. Methods A cross-sectional study was undertaken in all four Kelantan tertiary care hospitals from December 2019 to February 2020. A stratified random selection method was used to obtain a sample of 438 registered nurses. A validated WHO self-administered HH knowledge and perception questionnaire for healthcare personnel was used to measure HH knowledge, perception, and self-reported HH performance. Results The mean (SD) score of knowledge was 15.08 (1.96) out of the total 25. The score of perception participants towards HH was 68.02 (10.14) out of the total 81 and the average self-reported HH performance was 87.58 (12.03) out of 100. Pearson’s correlation analysis showed significant positive correlations between perception and knowledge scores; r (436) =0.17, p<0.001 and Perception and self-reported HH performance scores; r (436) =0.27, p<0.001. Conclusions There is a strong link between knowledge and perception scores. Lack of understanding of HH during patient care might lead to a negative perception, which can affect overall self-reported HH performance. The need of monitoring and maintaining HH knowledge among nurses was established in this study.

Hand Hygiene Knowledge and Perception Survey for Healthcare Workers in Government Hospitals (GHs) in Bahrain

“…According to our scatter plot, there was a positive but weak correlation between the knowledge score and perception score (p=0.001), suggesting that the increase in the knowledge score is correlated with the increase in perception score. This mirrored the results of the study done by Abd Rahim and Ibrahim [26], employing the Pearson correlation coefficient; they found a significant positive correlation between…”

“…In Qassim, Saudi Arabia, research done during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic reported that HCWs who received appropriate training on HH were more likely to have moderate/good perceptions [9]. Another study from four different tertiary care centers in Malaysia [26] found a significant positive correlation between HH knowledge and HH perceptions. A recent publication from Denmark [27] focusing on perception and self-reported HH compliance among emergency medical services personnel reported that HCWs' perceptions were extensively influenced by several factors, such as support from the management, availability of HH supplies at the point of use, and having a good role model at the workplace.…”

“…In addition to these factors, having a safety culture, regular training and education, providing reminders at the workplace, and continuous monitoring and feedback are some of the major elements that affect HCWs' knowledge and perceptions toward HH [8,9,[11][12][13][17][18][19][20][24][25][26][27][28][29][30]. Furthermore, many of these studies suggested that HH knowledge and perceptions increased with HCWs' age and years of experience [10,14,17,18,27].…”