Knowledge, attitude, practice of hand hygiene among nursing staff in medicine ICU in a tertiary health care centre in Western India

Abstract

Background : Hospital infection is one of the leading cause of public health related issue throughout the world. Hand hygiene is one of the leading measure used to prevent cross-transmission and thus to reduce health care associated infections. Aims & Objectives: To assess knowledge, attitude and practice about hand hygiene in nursing staff in medicine ICU in a tertiary health care centre. Methodology: Total 48 medicine ICU nursing staff were given open ended questionnaire on knowledge, attitude and practice of hand hygiene. Score were given for correct option and data was filled and analyzed in MS Excel software Results: Compliance in knowledge (62 %) and attitude (81 %) for hand hygiene was good. Performance in practice of hand hygiene was 54 % which was comparatively lower. Conclusion: Compliance of hand hygiene practice was lower compared to knowledge and attitude and needs to be addressed in the form of continued medical education.