HAND HYGIENE MANAGEMENT AMONG NURSES AND DOCTORS

Introduction: The purpose of the study was to assess the knowledge and conduct of nurses and doctors with regard to hand hygiene (HH) in accordance with the guidelines of the World Health Organization (WHO) and the declared level of compliance in the period immediately preceding the COVID-19 pandemic. Frequent and correct HH is one of the most important measures applied to prevent infections. The assurance of good, consistently applied HH practices enables the prevention of transmission of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) from one individual to another. Managers should work to enable frequent and regular HH by providing the relevant infrastructure and changes in the manner of conduct. Material and methods: The survey involved 50 nurses and 50 doctors at a specialised hospital in the Pomeranian Voivodeship in Poland. It was conducted by use of a diagnostic survey and a direct observation method. The survey consisted of an original questionnaire along with a basic HH observation form prepared by the WHO. Results: The nurses and doctors were found to have a high level of knowledge of HH. 412 HH possibilities were observed in total. The total HH compliance was 53.08% for nurses and 46.92% for doctors. Conclusions: The high level of knowledge among nurses and doctors does not have a significant impact on the number of correctly performed HH procedures. The level of knowledge of HH is determined by age, education and seniority. It is necessary to improve compliance with HH rules as the spread of COVID-19 in hospital conditions is a problem.