A SURVEY OF HAND HYGIENE KNOWLEDGE, ATTITUDE AND PRACTICES AMONG HEALTH CARE WORKERS IN A SECONDARY CARE CENTRE: A CROSS SECTIONAL STUDY

*Dr. Twinkle Sood and Dr. Divya Dhiman

ABSTRACT

Background: Maintenance of proper hand hygiene among health care professionals is important to prevent transmission of most of the infections. It been described as the single most important, simplest and least expensive means of preventing nosocomial infections. The present study was conducted to determine the knowledge, attitude and practices of hand hygiene in a secondary care centre. Methods: A self- administered questionnaire based cross sectional study was conducted among 150 doctors, nurses and ward attendants at civil hospital, Palampur, Himachal Pradesh. Data was collected and analysed using SPSS version 20.0. Results: Majority of the respondents were in the age group of 31-40 years. Most of the respondents were nurses (46.7%) and 72% of the respondents had a good knowledge of hand hygiene. Washing of hands before and after contact with patients was 32% and 55% respectively. Most of them (55.3%) had received training on hand washing in the last three years and 60% respondents routinely used alcohol based hand rub. Conclusions: Although knowledge, attitude and practice of hand hygiene were good among respondents in this study there is still need for conducting regular training. Lack of hospital resources is one of the major constraints preventing adequate implementation of knowledge of hand hygiene practices among healthcare professionals.

Keywords: Hand hygiene, knowledge, attitude, practice, healthcare workers and secondary care.