Assessment of Hand Hygiene Compliance among Healthcare Practitioners: A Cross-Sectional Study
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Abstract
Hand hygiene compliance is one of the most critical interventions to minimize healthcare-associated Infection (HAI). This cross-sectional study evaluated adherence to mask use across 300 HCPs in a tertiary healthcare facility of 120 doctors (40%), 150 nurses (50%), and 30 paramedics (10%). The overall compliance was 67%, 85% after exposure to body fluids and 50% before aseptic procedure. Doctors complied with at least 60%, while the nurses and paramedics complied with 70% and 50%, respectively. Compliance measures included the respondent's professional role, the number of years of their working experience and the hand hygiene training provided. Nurses had a greater chance of compliance than other HCPs by 1.5 times (OR = 1.5; p = 0.02), and training had a 2-fold chance (OR = 2.0; p < 0 .001). The compliance increased progressively from 62 percent to 71 percent in three months, demonstrating the intercessions' efficacy. Interward variability was also observed, where ICU staff had the highest level of compliance, 70%, surgical 65%, and general medicine wards 60%. The outcome highlights the need for compliance interventions to be specified by profession, specialty of the working group, and the ward where treatment is to be given.