Abstract :
Introduction: Health-care Providers hands become progressively colonized by germs and potential pathogen during patient care. Absence of hand hygiene practices by health care providers possesses high risk to patient’s safety. Hand hygiene practices either by Hand rub by disinfectant or hand washing by Soap & Water is very important for preventing Health Care Associated Infections (HCAIs).
Objective: Assessment of Knowledge, Attitude & Perceived Barriers among doctors towards practice of Hand Hygiene during patient care.
Materials and Methods: Cross sectional observation study carried among 36 doctors working in 8 indoor departments of a Govt. Tertiary care Hospital. Semi Structured Questionnaires was used for data collection. Data Entry was done in MS excel and was analysed in SPSS software. Categorical Variables was expressed in frequency and Percentage. Result was extrapolated on Graph and Table.
Result: 53% Doctors do not have knowledge about “5 moments of hand hygiene”. 92% Doctors realised the importance of practice of Hand hygiene as in prevention of transmission of infection. 61% Doctors realised that forgetfulness’ leads to omission of practice of hand hygiene. Perceived Barriers to practice Hand Hygiene identified were increased workload, lack of water, sinks, hand rubs and antiseptic solutions in the practice area.
Conclusion: The study identifies the knowledge gap still exist among Doctors regarding Hand hygiene and although Doctors have good attitude towards hand hygiene, Perceived barriers which are rectifiable prevents them from practicing hand hygiene everywhere and all the time.
Keyword :
Hand hygiene, Doctors, Knowledge, Attitude, Perceived barriers, Health Care Associated Infections.