Knowledge, Attitude and Self-Reported Performance and Challenges of Hand Hygiene Using Alcohol-Based Hand Sanitizers Among Healthcare Workers During COVID-19 Pandemic at a Tertiary Hospital: A Cross-Sectional Study

Abstract

Background and Objective Understanding and consistent hand hygiene practice by alcohol-based hand sanitizer is a cardinal step to stay safe from the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic. This study aimed to assess the self-reported level of knowledge, attitude, practice, and challenges to practice hand hygiene by alcohol-based hand sanitizers among healthcare workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Jimma Medical Center, Ethiopia. Methods Between April and June 2020, a questionnaire-based descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted using 96 study participants. Data were analyzed using SPSS version 21 and described. Results All of the study participants (96) were at the forefront of the fight against COVID-19. Most of the study participants were nurses (27) and pharmacists (21). Their mean age was 28.69±4.048 years. All of them were practicing different COVID-19 prevention methods. In this study, 95.8% of the respondents used alcohol-based hand sanitizers. The majority of the respondents were knowledgeable (93.8%), had a favorable attitude (74%), and good hand hygiene practices (76%) by alcohol-based hand sanitizers. However, 84.5% of the respondents were confronted with challenges during alcohol-based hand sanitizer use due to it is unavailable 66 (68.8%), expensive 50 (52.1%), forgetting 11 (11.5%), experiencing health-associated risks (skin irritation (28.1%), skin dryness (62.5%), ocular irritation (11.5%)), etc. Conclusion The majority of respondents had good knowledge, attitude, and practices of alcohol-based hand sanitizer. But there were some items of their evaluation with relatively low scores that revealed some room for improvements. Additionally, the respondents reported various challenges. Therefore, to achieve and sustain changes, the hand hygiene promotion strategic plan needs a great concern.

Alcohol-containing Hand Rubs: A Survey on Beliefs and Self-reported Practices of Muslim Nurses

“…Amongst our study population, about one third of nurses were concerned about adverse skin irritation side effects of alcohol-based hand rubs. This finding was in line with many other studies in which a commonly reported side effect of ABHRs was skin dryness and irritation (Assefa et al 2021;Kampf and Löffler 2007;Sharma et al 2015;Takra, Gutkowska, and Nitsch-Osuch 2019). Skin irritation and contact dermatitis with ABHRs were specially reported in people with an aldehyde dehydrogenase deficiency (Lachenmeier 2008).…”

Infection Prevention Performance among In-Flight Cabin Crew in South Korea

“…Notably, we found that the average HH performance score was 4.47, which was lower than that reported for medical staff (4.67) during the COVID-19 pandemic [ 44 ]. This could potentially be related to a misconception among crew members that contaminated hands are a lesser source of respiratory infection than droplets [ 45 ].…”

Alcohol-Based Hand Sanitizers in COVID-19 Prevention: A Multidimensional Perspective

“…The tolerability of ABHS is listed as one of the six golden rules of hand hygiene [69]. Even though, the dermal tolerability of an ABHS does not affect efficacy, adverse skin effects will most likely have a negative effect on usage and compliance [70]. Frequent application of skin irritants and allergens can result in contact dermatitis [71].…”