Knowledge of hand hygiene in undergraduate medical, dental, and nursing students: A cross-sectional survey

BACKGROUND: Hand hygiene is of paramount importance for the prevention of healthcare associated infections and the spread of antimicrobial resistance. There is a need to explore the concept of hand hygiene among the cross-disciplinary undergraduate healthcare students. AIM: To evaluate and compare the knowledge of hand hygiene among medical, dental, and nursing undergraduate students. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A cross-sectional survey was conducted among 84 medical, 74 dental, and 40 nursing undergraduate students in a Tertiary Care Teaching Institute in Navi Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. Knowledge was assessed using the World Health Organization hand hygiene questionnaire. The scores for each were calculated and compared. The scores were further graded as low, moderate, and good. RESULTS: Overall, only 7.5% of the participants had good knowledge regarding hand hygiene while majority (69.1%) had moderate knowledge. Medical students’ hand hygiene knowledge was significantly (P < 0.01) higher than that of dental and nursing students. CONCLUSION: The overall low scores on hand hygiene knowledge indicate that undergraduate healthcare students require increased emphasis on hand hygiene education, behavior, and improvement in their current primary training as well as undergraduate curricula.