• Am J Infect Control · Sep 2018

    Multicenter Study

    Guiding hand hygiene interventions among future healthcare workers: implications of knowledge, attitudes, and social influences.

    • Shamsul Arfin Qasmi, Mahmood Shah Sayed Mustafa SM Department of Internal Medicine, Dow University of Health Sciences (DUHS), Pakistan. Electronic address: shah.mustafa010@gmail.com., Hafiz Yahya Iftikhar Wakil, and Sarmad Pirzada.
    • Department of Pathology, Karachi Institute of Medical Sciences (KIMS), Pakistan.
    • Am J Infect Control. 2018 Sep 1; 46 (9): 1026-1031.

    BackgroundMedical students in their clinical years play an important role in healthcare delivery, yet poor levels of hand hygiene (HH) compliance in this population raise the risk for propagating nosocomial infections. To date, there has been a lack of dedicated interventions showing sustainable improvements in HH in this population.MethodsA multicenter, cross-sectional study was conducted among 450 medical students in their clinical years (third to fifth years). A self-administered, pre-validated questionnaire based on the World Health Organization's "Knowledge" and "Perception" questionnaires was used to explore HH knowledge, attitudes, practices, and desired interventions.ResultsSelf-reported HH compliance was found to be low (56.8%), and moderate HH knowledge (61.8%) was observed among all study respondents. Public university students expressed greater knowledge than students in private and semi-private universities. Superior HH practices were associated with better individual HH attitudes, positive perceived HH attitudes in other healthcare workers (HCWs), and higher HH knowledge scores. The highest-rated interventions for improving HH compliance included role-modeling by HCWs, display of "clear HH instructions," and "ensuring availability of hand sanitizers."ConclusionOur results call for a multifaceted approach to improve HH compliance among medical students, by ensuring adequate HH supplies/hand sanitizers, providing HH training in curricula, and effecting a cultural change mediated by professional modeling and open communication.Copyright © 2018 Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology, Inc. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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