Knowledge of Hand Hygiene among the Medical Students at the General Sir John Kotelawala Defence University

Abstract

Background. Hospital acquired infections are commonly transmitted by the hands of healthcare workers. The objective of this study was to compare the knowledge of hand hygiene among the preclinical students and the students with clinical exposure. Method. A self-administered, pre-tested validated questionnaire from previous publications, based on hand hygiene guidelines by the WHO, was distributed among all the medical students at the General Sir John Kotelawala Defence University. Results were analyzed by comparing the knowledge of the WHO guidelines with the appropriate hand hygiene behaviour of the medical students. The percentages were calculated and compared using the statistical test for proportions. A p<0.05 was considered to be statistically significant. Results. All 104(58.75%) preclinical students and 73(41.24%) students who had clinical exposure participated in the study. Of the preclinical students the percentage who knew the that the hands should be washed before having direct contact with patients, after having direct contact with the patients, if moving from a contaminated body site to a clean body site in the same patient, before clean/ aseptic procedures, after contact with body fluid/blood and after contact with any object in patient's immediate surrounding were 67.30%, 50%, 50.96%, 88.46% and 34.61% respectively. Of the student with clinical exposure, these were 49.31%, 63.01%, 31.50%, 87.67%, 94.52% and 27.39% respectively. Twenty-two (21.15%) of the preclinical students and 29 (39.72%) of the students with clinical exposure knew the correct duration of hand washing (p=0.007). Conclusion.Correct duration of hand washing (p=0.007) and knowledge of hand hygiene before clean/ aseptic procedures (p<0.001) were significantly better among students with clinical exposure. The knowledge on other aspects showed no significant difference between the two groups (p>0.05). In general, the hand hygiene knowledge and practice among medical students was not satisfactory. Therefore, further education with regard to hand hygiene is necessary.