• N Y Shehu, K I Onyedibe, J S Igbanugo, M O Okolo, S S Gomerep, S E Isa, and D Z Egah.
• Department of Medicine, Infectious Diseases Unit, Jos University Teaching Hospital, Plateau State, Nigeria.
• Niger J Clin Pract. 2019 Jul 1; 22 (7): 1008-1013.

BackgroundHand hygiene (HH) is the single most important means of preventing hospital-acquired infections. We set out to determine the knowledge, training gaps, and practice of HH in a tertiary health institution in a resource constrained setting.MethodsThis cross-sectional study was conducted among health care workers in a 600-bed capacity tertiary health centre. The study was conducted between April and November 2013. A multi-stage randomized sampling method was used to self-administer 322 WHO HH knowledge questionnaires. Information on HH training in the past 3 years, knowledge and practice of HH were obtained, and data were analysed using Epi-Info version 3.5.1.ResultsA response rate of 98.5% was obtained for the HH knowledge assessment. Mean age of the study population was 39 ± 9.8. About 64% were females. Of all the respondents, only 16% had good knowledge of HH, 52% had moderate knowledge while 32% had poor knowledge. About 24% had formal training on HH. In terms of practice, only about 22% of the respondents self-reported routine practice of HH.ConclusionsThe findings in this study suggest that there is sub-optimal HH knowledge, practice and training. It is imperative to improve the HH training and retraining of health care workers with a focus on attendants. Administrative controls and bold signage in healthcare institutions are also recommended.

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