Knowledge, Attitude and Practice of Hand Hygiene among Healthcare Providers in Semi-urban Communities of Sokoto State, Nigeria

Introduction: Healthcare providers have been identified as the most common vehicle for transmission of hospital acquired infections (HAIs) from patient to patient and within the healthcare environment. Large proportions of the infections acquired in the hospital are attributed to cross contamination and transmission of microbes from hands of healthcare providers (HCPs) to patients. Hand hygiene has been identified as the single most important, simplest and least expensive means of preventing HAIs. This study aimed to determine the knowledge, attitude and practice of hand hygiene among healthcare providers in semi-urban communities of Sokoto State, Nigeria.

Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 144 healthcare providers selected by a multistage sampling technique. Data were collected with a set of pretested self-administered, semi-structured questionnaire. Data were analyzed using IBM SPSS version 20 statistical package.

Results: The mean age of the respondents was 32.1 ± 7.4 years, and majority of them were aged 20 – 39 years (81.2%), females (59.0%) and married (65.3%). Most of the respondents (71.5%) were community health extension workers (CHEWs) and nurses/midwives. One hundred and thirty-two (91.7%) of the 144 respondents had good knowledge of hand hygiene; but about a third of respondents (31.9%) had the misconception that hand washing should be done before touching patients’ files. Most of the respondents demonstrated positive attitude to hand hygiene. Most of them would attend workshop/training on hand hygiene (95.1%), and would advise their colleagues to do so (94.4%). One hundred and thirty-nine (96.5%) of the 144 respondents reported observing hand hygiene practices; of these, only two-thirds, 97 (69.8%) do so consistently. The main reasons cited for not observing hand hygiene practices consistently were unavailability of soap (88.1%) and irregular water supply (51.0%).

Conclusion: Although, knowledge, attitude and practice of hand hygiene were good among the respondents in this study, unavailability of soap and lack of constant water supply remain major constraints. Government and other stakeholders should provide adequate water, and materials for sanitation and hygiene in the healthcare facilities.