Awareness of Hand Hygiene Among Health Care Workers of Chitwan, Nepal

Improper HH by health care workers is responsible for about 40% of nosocomial infections resulting in prolonged illnesses. A cross-sectional study was carried out in three hospitals to identify the knowledge and practice of HH. There was a significant difference in the level of knowledge among the health care workers (p < .05). There was a positive association (r = 0.247) between knowledge and practice skill of health care workers. Nearly three quarters of the health care workers (74.2%) had been trained for infection prevention. Soap was the most popular agent (57.5%) for HH. The health care workers had good level of knowledge (77.3%) and practice (91.7%) on HH. However, half of the health care workers were unaware of all of the steps of HH and they were lacking in knowledge and practice skill regarding important components of HH. Therefore, there is an urgent need for continuing medical education for infection prevention, to increase their awareness and compliance toward HH.