This article is more than 5 years old. Information may no longer be current.
Medical students report lack of knowledge about hand hygiene
Graf K. Am J Infect Control. 2011;39:885-888.
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts
Fewer than 25% of medical students during their first clinical year knew all indications for hand hygiene, according to researchers from Germany.
“We need to teach medical staff — especially medical students — about the importance of hygiene, and we need experienced physicians who will serve as good role models for proper infection control later on,” Ralf-Peter Vonberg, MD, of Hannover Medical School, told Infectious Disease News.
Vonberg and colleagues surveyed medical students about their knowledge and beliefs on hand hygiene, including the indications, compliance in different departments, possible reasons for noncompliance, average compliance that is usually achieved in hospital and potential for reduction of nosocomial infections.
Although 100% of medical students knew the indications for hand hygiene before and after contact with a patient and contact with vomit, only 21% of students marked all of the indications for hand hygiene correctly.
Eighty-three percent correctly identified “before preparation of parenteral fluids’’ and ‘‘after removal of gloves’’ as hand hygiene indications. Yet, nearly half of all students incorrectly marked ‘‘before touching the urine drainages system’’ and ‘‘during regular nursing’’ as hand hygiene indications, according to the study.
Further, medical students tended to believe that compliance toward hand hygiene would decrease in more experienced physicians.
“This shows the need for education on microbiology, as well as infection control measures, about the sources of pathogens and routes of their transmission,” Vonberg said. “This should be done any time possible during university/college time, as well as later on when working on the ward at the patient’s site. We will need to provide education of staff on these issues continuously throughout their work life.”
Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.
 |
Follow InfectiousDiseaseNews.com on Twitter. |