Hand hygiene among egyptian health care students: nursing versus medical students

ABSTRACT

This study was carried out for evaluation of current status of hand hygiene' knowledge, practice and attitude among Egyptian Nursing students versus Medical students and exploration of relationship between knowledge, practice and attitude of health care students and bacterial flora in their hands. A random sample of 100 3[rd] year Nursing students and 5th year Medical students. The study was carried out at Faculty of Nursing and Medicine, Menofia University. Two Tools were utilized for data collection tool 1 Self administered hand hygiene questionnaire it includes 4 parts to assess knowledge and attitude of healthcare students about HH, tool 2 Hand hygiene observational checklist to assess healthcare students' practice of HH. The results revealed that the most important factors influencing compliance with HH that mentioned by Nursing students was forgetfulness, and by Medical students was high workload. Almost all Nursing students had good knowledge about HH compared to two third of Medical students. While almost all Medical students had positive attitude about HH compared to about two thirds of Nursing students. Less than half of Medical students had good HH practice, while 90% of Nursing students had poor practice. Staph Epidermis is the most common microorganisms present in both Medical and Nursing students. Nursing students were more knowledgeable than Medical students but the positive attitude and good practice were better among Medical students than Nursing students. There was no relationship between health care student' knowledge, practice and attitude and bacterial flora in their hands. Hand hygiene protocol should be emphasized in either theoretical or practical teaching and training for undergraduate Medical and Nursing students to modify HH attitude and practice and enhance their compliance