Assessment of knowledge regarding hand hygiene among healthcare workers at a cantonment-based public sector hospital in Pakistan

Background and Objective: Hand hygiene is regarded as one of the most important strategies in limiting infections and hospital-acquired diseases in healthcare settings. Adopting an optimal and scientifically validated technique of maintaining hand hygiene in healthcare centers is considered the safest and cost-effective method to prevent infection transmission to and from the patients. The present study was planned to determine the knowledge of healthcare workers about hand hygiene using the standard questionnaire in a local tertiary care hospital.Methods: It was a cross-sectional survey conducted at the Pakistan Ordnance Factories Hospital, Wah Cantonment, Pakistan, for 3 months. By adopting purposive sampling, a total of 165 healthcare professionals were recruited for the study. “Hand Hygiene Knowledge Questionnaire for Healthcare Workers,” published by World Health Organization (WHO), was used for data collection. Each subject filled out the questionnaire by himself/herself. Data were entered and analyzed in Statistical Package for the Social Sciences version 22.0.Results: It was observed that only 11 (6.6%) subjects had good knowledge of hand hygiene according to the standard guidelines, while majority of the respondents (58.2%) had a moderate level of knowledge according to the WHO criteria. There was no statistical difference in the scores among medical doctors and nurses.Conclusion: The level of knowledge about hand hygiene among healthcare workers is unsatisfactory. It calls for effective reinforcement through repeated training and awareness seminars as a part of routine work to inculcate this habit for better infection control in hospital settings.