Evaluation of hand hygiene beliefs and compliance of primary care health care workers in Tuzla, Istanbul
Aim: The aim of this study was to determine the hand hygiene belief and hand hygiene practices in primary care health care workers in Tuzla, Istanbul. Method: The universe of this cross-sectional study was the primary health care workers in Tuzla, Istanbul. It was planned to reach the entire universe therefore a sample was not choosen. As a result of the study, 84% of the universe was reached. The study data were collected through the online questionnaire including hand hygiene practice inventory and the hand hygiene belief scale.P value below 0.05 was considered significant.
Results: A total of 210 particaants attend to the study. 77.6% (n=163) of the participants were female and 22.4% (n=47) were male. The mean age of the participants in the study was 37.6±8.8 years. Most of the participants participated in the study from the Family Health Center (FHC). Average work time was 13.4±9.3 years. Considering the occupational groups, the average scale score of the physicians was 84.6±6.9; the means core of the health workers was 81.9±8.9. Mean scale scores were calculated as 81.3±12.7 in cleaning personel and 78.0±9.6 in support personnel. Considering the occupational groups, there was a significant difference between physicians and support personnel in terms of the mean scale score (p<0.05). The mean total hand hygiene practice inventory (EHUE) score of the participants was 67.2±3.9. Considering the occupational groups, there is a significant difference between the groups in terms of the average score (p<0.05).
Conclusion: It is seen that hand hygiene belief and compliance averages are high in primary health care workers. However, there are differences in terms of belief and practice in hand hygiene in terms of occupational groups and working years. Forth is reason, it would be beneficial to provide training on hand hygiene to the groups in need.
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