Knowledge, habits and attitudes of health care workers about hand hygiene

Introduction: Nosocomial infection is a major problem in modern medicine and a source of concern to health workers and the public. Hand hygiene is considered to be the most effective measure to prevent microbial cross-transmission and healthcare-associated infections. The aim of the research was to dermine the differences in attitudes of health workers about the hand hygiene. Material and methods: The investigation was carried out in the period October 2009 - February 2010, as a a cross-sectional study. The study included 500 healthcare workers of both sex employed at the Clinical Centre of Vojvodina in units of intensive care, surgery, internal medicine, neurology, gynecology and obstetrics, at the Institute for Children and Youth Health Care of Vojvodina in Novi Sad, Institute of Oncology of Vojvodina and Institute for Pulmonary diseases in Sremska Kamenica. A special questionnaire was desingned for the purpose of this research. Results: The results showed that health workers who participated in the survey had a basic knowledge of hand hygiene. Insufficient level of knowledge of medical staff was shown in terms of modern disinfectants. Conditions for performing hand hygiene depended on the department of the heath institution. Compared to others, in the units of intensive care were easily accessible more modern means for hand hygiene. Conclusion: Education of health workers on hospital infections is essential for the higher level of quality of health care. This could contribute to reduction of the incidence of hospital infections in our hospital.