Hand hygiene practice among healthcare workers in a public hospital in North-Western Nigeria

Background: Hospital-acquired infection is still a major cause of morbidity and mortality in hospitals. Compliance with hand hygiene by healthcare workers is an important preventive measure. However, many healthcare workers do not wash their hands properly or not at all. This cross-sectional study was conducted to assess the practice of hand washing among healthcare workers in a tertiary hospital in Nigeria. Patients and Methods: Healthcare workers were randomly selected and were asked, using a questionnaire, regarding hand hygiene in their working places. Results: A total of 173 healthcare workers who had contact with patients participated in the study. They included doctors, nurses, physiotherapists, laboratory scientists, and technicians. Majority (54.3%) of them were males and 60.1% worked in a health facility for 5 years or less. All participants practiced hand washing at work but only 127 (73.4%) washed their hands correctly. Contact with body fluids was the major (87.3%) reason for washing hands. Soap and water only were used by 58.4% and hands were air dried by 45.1%. The main constraint to hand hygiene was lack of alcohol hand rub, soap, and water. Knowledge of hand washing was from multiple sources. Conclusion: Compliance with hand hygiene was good. Alcohol hand rub, water, and soap should always be available.