A systematic review on hand hygiene knowledge and compliance in student nurses

BACKGROUND

Hand hygiene competence is one of the critical outcomes in nursing education. Ensuring nursing students recognize the what, when and how of hand hygiene is critical in the light of the increasing rates of healthcare-associated infections.

AIM

To systematically appraise and synthesize articles on hand hygiene knowledge and compliance among nursing students.

METHODS

This is a systematic review of scientific articles published from 2006 to 2016. The primary databases used were as follows: PubMed, Embase, Cumulative Index to Nursing & Allied Health Literature, Proquest and PsychINFO. Key search terms utilized were as follows: 'handwashing', 'hand hygiene', 'compliance', 'knowledge', 'practice' and 'nursing students'.

FINDINGS

Nineteen studies met the review criteria. The findings revealed a low-to-moderate knowledge of and compliance with hand hygiene among nursing students. In addition, there were significantly higher rates of hand hygiene compliance in nursing students when compared to medical students. Relatively few studies attempted to identify predictors of hand hygiene knowledge and compliance.

CONCLUSION

This review demonstrated suboptimal knowledge and compliance to hand hygiene among student nurses. In addition, this review also highlighted the paucity of studies that examined individual and organizational factors, which influence nursing students hand hygiene knowledge and compliance.

IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING AND POLICY

The findings of this review emphasized the role of nurse educators in enhancing hand hygiene competence in nursing students. Implementation of empirically tested strategies such as utilizing multidimensional interventions, scenario-based hand hygiene simulation activities and hand hygiene education programmes that would enhance nursing students' hand hygiene knowledge and compliance is an asset. Hospital and nursing administrators should ensure continuous support and monitoring to guarantee that hand hygiene programmes are institutionalized in every healthcare setting by every healthcare worker.

Influencing factors on hand hygiene behavior of nursing students based on theory of planned behavior: A descriptive survey study

BACKGROUND

Hand hygiene is the single most important measure to prevent transmission of infection, but the compliance rate of healthcare workers is relatively low.

OBJECTIVES

This study was conducted to identify the knowledge, beliefs, behavior, and affecting factors about hand hygiene among nursing students.

DESIGN

A descriptive survey study.

SETTINGS

The study was carried out in two South Korean nursing schools.

PARTICIPANTS

A total 208 nursing students participated in this study.

METHODS

Questionnaires were used to collect data.

RESULTS

The percentage of correct answers in the survey section concerning hand hygiene knowledge was 68.1%. No significant difference in the knowledge, behavioral beliefs, normative beliefs, or control beliefs data was found related to general characteristics. Behavioral beliefs correlated with normative beliefs (r=.25, p<.001) and hand hygiene behavior (r=.17, p=.017), and control beliefs correlated with hand hygiene behavior (r=.18, p=.010).

CONCLUSION

The results suggest that knowledge is not enough to change the beliefs related to hand hygiene; positive behavioral beliefs and strong control beliefs are also needed to increase hand hygiene compliance.