Indian Journal of Microbiology Research

Hand hygiene is an important practice to prevent various kinds of infections. It is of utmost importance in health care workers to prevent Nosocomial infections. Various health care individuals like doctors, nurses and other paramedical staff are responsible for the spread of Nosocomial infections. In order to prevent this hand hygiene should be practiced at all levels. Observation of hand hygiene compliance of health care workers helps in assessing their knowledge and also provides ground for further improvements in hand hygiene. By improving their hand hygiene compliance Nosocomial infections can be prevented which is growing at an alarming rate throughout the world.

This is a cross sectional study conducted at Apollo General Hospital, Hyderabad. Health care workers such as doctors, nurses and other paramedical staff of various departments were observed for hand hygiene compliance. For assessing their knowledge, and perception about hand hygiene a survey was conducted by giving a questionnaire.

100 health care workers from ward 6, ward 4, gynaecology, paediatrics, ICU and surgery departments were considered for the study. Paediatrics department had the highest compliance rate of 56% and surgery had the lowest compliance rate of 31%. WHO hand washing moment 3 had the highest compliance of 83.3% while before touching the patient (moment 1) had the lowest compliance of 12%.

The overall compliance rate observed is at average of 41.1%. Health care associated infections can be prevented by effective hand hygiene practices. This research provides a framework to measure the hand hygiene compliance of medical and paramedical staff working in Health care setting. Direct observation remains a widely used, easily reproducible method for monitoring compliance.