Knowledge of hand hygiene and its self reported practice among nursing students during clinical experience at a teaching hospital in Mangalore
Leena Kunnath Chacko
Dept of Community Health Nursing, Father Muller College of Nursing, Mangalore, India
Correspondence Address:
Leena Kunnath Chacko Dept of Community Health Nursing, Father Muller College of Nursing, Mangalore India
Source of Support: None, Conflict of Interest: None
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Context: Hospital acquired infections being significant hazards in all health care settings are considered an important indicator of quality of health care. Nurses especially novices, the largest workforce in health care, are at highest risk of acquiring and transmitting diseases. Hand hygiene is one of the simplest measures to prevent infections.
Aims: This study is to assess the knowledge of Hand hygiene and self reported hand hy- giene practices during the clinical experience at the hospital.
Settings and design: This exploratory study was carried out among 200 nursing students of different courses of study selected using disproportionate stratified sampling technique. Methods and material: Knowledge questionnaire and self reported practice checklist were utilized to collect data.
Results: Knowledge was 'good' about hand washing (75.5%). On an average higher number of students reported to have washed their hands after the specific procedures (90.97%) as compared to before performing it (72.58%).
Conclusions: There is a need for improving hand hygiene related knowledge and practices of nursing students.
