Nurses Knowledge Toward Hand Hygiene In Health Facilities

Abstract

A critical synthesis of existing research conducted within Saudi Arabia is required to elucidate the determinants of the observed hand hygiene knowledge-practice gap among its nursing workforce. To investigate this knowledge gap, the study seeks to establish the knowledge that nurses have on hand hygiene in terms of its sub domains, and to examine some of the variables that are likely to influence the knowledge of sub domains. A cross-sectional study was employed that involved a structured, validated questionnaire administered to 250 nurses of a tertiary hospital, and descriptive statistics, t-test, and ANOVA, correlation, and multiple linear regression were utilized to analyze the data. Parameters of participated were demographic/professional attributes; knowledge was measured using a 25-item questionnaire; some of the perceived barriers were also collected. Results of the study were that the average knowledge was 18.6/25, which reflects to some extent that the knowledge level could be described to be moderate, but one of the gap that the knowledge level was weak on the Five Moments domain and that was 7.4/10, while the technique and product knowledge were 11.2/15. Regression analysis showed that training within the last two years (β=0.29, p<0.001) along with being part of the ICU (β=0.18, p=0.001) are significant positive predictors of knowledge, while overall perception of barriers are strong negative predictors (β=-0.30, p<0.001). This explains 29.4% of the variance in knowledge scores. It is concluded that HH knowledge is differentially impacted by recency of training, clinical unit culture, and perceived barriers. This emphasizes the need for specific, integrated approaches that go along with continuous conceptual education and organization of work around structural elements that alleviate workload and preventive skin damage for better sustained outcomes.