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American Journal of
Infection Control
Brief report
Key Words:
Hand hygiene
Health care personnel
Health careeassociated infections
Infection prevention
This study evaluated knowledge and self-reported attitudes and practices concerning hand hygiene
among hospital workers in Shiraz, Iran, using a 68-question survey divided into 4 sections:
demographics, knowledge, attitudes, and practices. Work experience had a correlation with practices and
knowledge (P < .05), and knowledge and practices scores were positively correlated (P < .05). Participants appear to have sufcient knowledge and proper attitudes regarding hand hygiene; however,
compliance practices were suboptimal.
Copyright 2015 by the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology, Inc.
Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
0196-6553/$36.00 - Copyright 2015 by the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology, Inc. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ajic.2015.05.002
Table 1
Demographic data from study respondents
Ward-unit
Demographics
Position
Physician
Medical-nursing student
Nurse-midwife-technician-therapist
Degree
Associates
Bachelors
Masters
General practitioner
Specialist
Subspecialist
Total
Internal medicine
Surgery
4 (9.5)
6 (14.3)
32 (76.2)
9 (7.3)
3 (2.4)
111 (90.2)
8 (13.8)
6 (10.3)
44 (75.9)
17
19
5
1
0
0
42
55
51
10
5
0
2
123
21
29
3
3
1
1
58
(40.5)
(45.2)
(11.9)
(2.4)
(0.0)
(0.0)
(100.0)
Obstetrics-delivery assistant
(44.7)
(41.5)
(8.1)
(4.1)
(0.0)
(1.6)
(100.0)
(36.2)
(50.0)
(5.2)
(5.2)
(1.7)
(1.7)
(100.0)
ICU
Burn
Oncology
8 (26.7)
3 (10.0)
19 (63.3)
10 (20.4)
4 (8.2)
35 (71.4)
12 (16.0)
5 (6.7)
58 (77.3)
51 (13.5)
27 (7.2)
299 (79.3)
5
17
5
2
1
0
30
9
27
3
9
1
0
49
14
45
10
1
4
1
75
121
188
36
21
7
4
377
(16.7)
(56.7)
(16.7)
(6.7)
(3.2)
(0.0)
(100.0)
(18.4)
(55.1)
(6.1)
(18.4)
(2.0)
(0.0)
(100.0)
(18.7)
(60.0)
(13.2)
(1.4)
(5.3)
(1.4)
(100.0)
Total
(32.1)
(49.9)
(9.5)
(5.6)
(1.8)
(1.1)
(100.0)
Table 2
Scores of knowledge, attitudes, and practices of health care workers in each
ward-unit
Ward/Unit
Knowledge (no. of enrolled people)
Internal medicine (42)
Surgery (123)
Obstetrics-delivery assistant (58)
ICU (30)
Burn (49)
Oncology (75)
Total (377)
Attitude (no. of enrolled people)
Internal medicine (42)
Surgery (123)
Obstetrics-delivery assistant (58)
ICU (30)
Burn (49)
Oncology (75)
Total (377)
Practice (no. of enrolled people)
Internal medicine (42)
Surgery (123)
Obstetrics-delivery assistant (58)
ICU (30)
Burn (49)
Oncology (75)
Total (377)
Mean
SD
P value
12.64
13.10
12.86
14.86
13.93
16.08
13.85
2.46
2.62
1.81
2.96
2.64
2.14
2.72
<.001
32.45
32.97
35.48
31.96
32.28
33.74
33.28
2.78
2.90
2.98
3.35
2.90
3.04
3.14
<.001
14.33
12.50
20.98
12.43
15.08
16.48
15.13
5.95
4.02
5.97
4.80
6.09
4.41
5.78
<.001
RESULTS
Of the 500 HCP (out of a possible 2,756) approached, 377 (75.4%)
returned completed questionnaires. Respondents were 20-52 years
old (29.98 6.24). Work experience ranged from 0-30 years
(5.34 5.25). Most respondents were women (80.6%, P < .001). The
distribution of education levels was not balanced (1-sample c2 test,
P < .001). Detailed demographic data of the respondents are shown
in Table 1.
Table 3
Status of knowledge, attitudes, and practices of health care workers in different wards-units
Status of knowledge
Wards-units
Internal medicine
Surgery
Obstetrics-delivery assistant
ICU
Burn
Oncology
Total
Very poor
1
0
0
0
0
0
1
(2.4)
(0.0)
(0.0)
(0.0)
(0.0)
(0.0)
(0.3)
Poor
23
57
29
8
14
4
135
(54.8)
(46.3)
(50.0)
(26.7)
(28.6)
(5.3)
(35.8)
Moderate
18
61
29
19
32
63
222
(42.9)
(49.6)
(50.0)
(63.3)
(65.3)
(84.0)
(58.9)
Status of attitude
Good
0
5
0
3
3
8
19
(0.0)
(4.1)
(0.0)
(10.0)
(6.1)
(10.7)
(5.0)
Moderate
10
21
5
7
12
14
69
(23.8)
(17.1)
(8.6)
(23.3)
(24.5)
(18.7)
(18.3)
Good
32
102
53
23
37
61
308
(76.2)
(82.9)
(91.4)
(76.7)
(75.5)
(81.3)
(81.7)
Status of practice
Very poor
5
15
0
6
5
2
33
(11.9)
(12.2)
(0.0)
(20.0)
(10.2)
(2.7)
(8.8)
Poor
23
93
18
19
32
38
223
(54.8)
(75.6)
(31.0)
(63.3)
(65.3)
(50.7)
(59.2)
Moderate
11
14
23
4
6
32
90
(26.2)
(11.4)
(39.7)
(13.3)
(12.2)
(42.7)
(23.9)
Good
3
1
17
1
6
3
31
(7.1)
(0.8)
(29.3)
(3.3)
(12.2)
(4.0)
(8.2)
Acknowledgments
We thank Dr. Saman Farahangiz, Dr. Behnam Dalfardi, and Dr.
Zahra Shayan for their valuable advice.
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