Effects of hand hygiene education on hand hygiene behavior of visitors

Abstract

The objectives of the study were to compare the hand hygiene knowledge and behavior between pre-education and post-education and to study the opinion of visitors about the problem and solution for handwashing. Forty-three visitors were selected by purposive sampling from the medical-surgical unit of Sanam Chai Khet Hospital. The research instruments were the hand hygiene knowledge and hand hygiene behavior questionnaires. Data were analyzed by frequency, percentage, means, standard deviation, and paired t-test was conducted to compare the different between pre and post-education. The result showed that the knowledge of pre-education was at medium level (x=11.30, SD=1.23), and the knowledge of post-education was at high level (x=13.20, SD=1.01) with statistically significant difference (p<0.05). The hand hygiene behavior of respondents in pre-education was at high level (x=2.81, SD=0.57), and in post-education was at high level (x=3.00, SD=0.42) with no statistically significant difference (p>0.05). Most of the respondents suggested that an alcohol hand rub should be provided beside the patient’s bed as well as scatter around the wards. Therefore, nurse managers and infection control nurses should utilize the collected data for hand hygiene training plan for visitors to increase the knowledge and having correct health behavior as well as provide sufficient equipment to promote hand hygiene for visitors.