Hand Hygiene Practices among Medical Students

Autor: Azzam al Kadi, Sajad Ahmad Salati
Jazyk: angličtina
Rok vydání: 2012
Předmět:
Zdroj: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Infectious Diseases, Vol 2012 (2012)
Druh dokumentu: article
ISSN: 1687-708X
1687-7098
DOI: 10.1155/2012/679129
Popis: Background. Hand hygiene is a cost-effective method in preventing infection transmission. Hand hygiene practices have been found to be faulty in most healthcare settings. We conducted a study to evaluate the awareness, and compliance of hand hygiene among undergraduate medical students during their clinical phase in Qassim College of Medicine, Saudi Arabia. Methods. A questionnaire based on World Health Organization’s concept of “Five Moments for Hand Hygiene” was used to evaluate the awareness of the indications for hand hygiene and compliance was observed during Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) sessions. Sixty students including thirty-six males (60%) and twenty-four females (40%) participated voluntarily in the study. Results. The average awareness regarding the positive indications of hand hygiene was 56%. Rest of the 44% of students were either not sure or unaware of the indications of hygiene. Only 29% of students were able to identify all the five indications for hand hygiene in the questionnaire. Compliance as assessed during OSCE sessions was only 17% with no significant difference between the genders. Conclusion. It was concluded that serious efforts are needed to improve the hand hygiene practices among medical students.
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