Knowledge Gap and Poor Satisfaction as Barriers to Hand Hygiene in a Teaching Hospital in South-South Nigeria

Abstract

Health care associated infection remains a global problem and hand hygiene has been identified as an effective strategy for its control. Adherence to hand hygiene among healthcare workers, however, is low across the world. The aim of this study was to determine the level of knowledge of hand hygiene among healthcare workers and identify reasons for poor hand hygiene practice in our hospital. A 19-point questionnaire was administered to available health workers in February 2018 to assess availability of hand hygiene materials, frequency of performing hand hygiene, satisfaction with hand hygiene materials, and knowledge of infection transmission dynamics, efficacy and proper use of hand hygiene methods. Eighty-five healthcare workers participated in this study. Mean knowledge score of participants was 37.87 ± 13.45. Most participants reported performing hand hygiene up to 90% of the time and there were high rates of dissatisfaction among participants with hand hygiene products and their availability. This study shows that there is poor knowledge of some aspects of hand hygiene among healthcare workers in our hospital and there is general dissatisfaction with current hand hygiene products.