Hand hygiene practices: nursing students' perceptions

Area of Science:

• Nursing Education
• Healthcare Practices
• Infection Control

Background:

• Healthcare-associated infections (HCAIs) remain a significant challenge, with rising prevalence.
• Healthcare worker (HCW) hand hygiene compliance is often low and difficult to sustain.
• Identified barriers to hand hygiene compliance exist in the literature.

Purpose of the Study:

• To explore nursing students' perceptions of hand hygiene practices in clinical settings.
• To identify factors influencing students' perceptions of their own and HCWs' hand hygiene compliance.
• To provide recommendations for improving hand hygiene training in nursing curricula.

Main Methods:

• Qualitative interpretive design.
• Semi-structured interviews with ten preregistration nursing students.
• Thematic analysis of interview data.

Main Results:

• Barriers to hand hygiene compliance include time constraints, clinical procedures, skin condition, knowledge gaps, and glove use.
• Students perceive other HCWs as significant influencers on their hand hygiene compliance, driven by a desire to 'fit in'.
• The influence of other HCWs as role models is crucial for nursing students' hand hygiene compliance.

Conclusions:

• Findings align with existing literature on hand hygiene compliance barriers.
• Emphasizes the importance of social integration and role modeling in clinical settings.
• Underscores the significant impact of peer and senior HCW behavior on nursing students' practices.