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Assessing hand hygiene knowledge, attitude, behavior and adherence among nursing assistants: A cross-sectional study
Pei-Chun Huang1, Li-Yu Chien2, Hsiang-Ping Huang2
1Department of Nursing, Yuanshan Branch, Taipei Veterans General Hospital; Graduate Institute of Gerontology and Health Care Management, Chang Gung University of Science and Technology, Tao-Yuan City 33303, Taiwan.
Objective:
This study explored hand hygiene knowledge, attitude, behaviors and adherence amongst nursing assistants.
Methods:
This cross-sectional study was conducted with structured questionnaires and direct observation. Nursing assistants were recruited from two long-term care facilities in eastern Taiwan from July to September, 2021.
Results:
The nursing assistants had high levels of hand hygiene knowledge, attitude, and behavior, however, the direct observational revealed hand hygiene adherence at 58.6% with 17.99 seconds duration on average. Comparing with alcohol-based hand rub, the nursing assistants performed very low adherence rate with soap and water wash, and the use of paper towel was the least followed skill applying to soap and water wash.
Conclusions:
The study finds that hand wash with soap and water has lower adherence than the alcohol-based hand rub. Future innovations in hand hygiene, such as accessible and easy-to-use hand washing agents and easy-to-remember hand cleansing techniques will be valuable.
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