Knowledge, attitude and practice of hand hygiene among nursing students at Nguyen Tat Thanh University

Abstract

     Hand hygiene is a fairly simple, low-cost, easy-to-implement and highly effective measure to prevent hospital infections and protect medical staff. The study aimed to evaluate the knowledge, attitudes and practices of nursing students regarding hand hygiene and related factors. Descriptive cross-sectional study conducted from January 2024 to April 2024 on nursing students at Nguyen Tat Thanh University who are practicing clinically at the hospital. A total of 286 nursing students participated in the study were within the age range  from 21 to 23 years old and the majority of the respondents were female (82.2%). 55.9 % of nursing students are final year students and are practicing at the Surgery department (44.7%), Internal Medicine (27.3 %), Intensive Care Unit (16.8 %) and Pediatric Department (11.2 %). Regarding knowledge, attitude and practice of hand hygiene, 91.6 % have good knowledge, 94.4% of students have positive attitudes and 59.4 % of students practice well. The analysis results also noted that 4^th year students had better knowledge and practical skills about hand generation than 3^rd year students (p < 0.01). In general, nursing students have good knowledge and good attitudes about routine hand washing. It is necessary to strengthen supervision, updates, and training to help students improve compliance with hand hygiene practices in patient care.