Hand hygiene practices among undergraduate students in tertiary care unit, Gujrat Pakistan

Background & Method: Hand hygiene is a cost-effective method in preventing infection transmission. Hand hygiene practices have been found to be faulty in medical health care professionals. We conducted a study to evaluate the awareness, and practice of hand hygiene among undergraduate medical students during their clinical rotations in Tertiary Care Unit, Gujrat Pakistan (NSMC,UOG). A questionnaire based (cross-sectional) on World Health Organization’s concept of “Five Moments for Hand Hygiene” was used to access the awareness of the indications for hand hygiene and compliance was observed during clinical Rotations. Sixty students including thirty-six males (60%) and twenty-four females (40%) participated voluntarily in the study. Results: The average awareness about the positive indications of hand hygiene was 56%. Rests of the 44% of students were either not sure or unaware of the indications of hygiene. Only 29% of students were able to identify all the five indications for hand hygiene in the questionnaire. Compliance as assessed during OSCE sessions was only 17% with no significant difference between the genders. Conclusion: It was concluded that many efforts are required to improve the hand hygiene practices among undergraduate medical students