1194. Gender Differences in Psychosocial Determinants of Hand Hygiene Among Doctors

BACKGROUND: Hand hygiene (HH) is essential in the prevention of hospital-acquired infections. It is known that there are differences in the compliance of HH between men and women but the reason for this phenomenon is unclear. METHODS: A survey on HH was conducted in July 2018 among healthcare workers at four different referral hospitals in South Korea. The differences between male and female doctors were then analyzed. The survey included a structured questionnaire with seven parts: (1) self-assessment of HH execution rate, knowledge, attitude, and behavior regarding HH, (2) internal motivation for better HH, (3) obstacles for HH, (4) emotional motivation, (5) the need for external supervision, (6) preference for alcohol gel, and (7) embarrassment due to supervision. RESULTS: Of the 1046 healthcare workers that replied to the survey, 201 (19.2%) were doctors, and of these, 129 (63.5%) were men. There was no significant difference between male and female doctors on the questionnaire related to knowledge, attitude, and behavior regarding HH. On the questions regarding internal motivation for better HH, male doctors had a higher tendency to agree that “I would be better at HH if it was related to getting a promotion,” but the results were statistically insignificant (5.08 vs. 4.69, P = 0.08). For the 14 questions about the obstacles for HH, the following five categories showed significantly higher results in men: (1) HH is difficult in emergency situations (4.87 vs. 4.51, P = 0.02), (2) time that could be spent on something more important is wasted on HH (3.12 vs. 2.67, P = 0.008), (3) HH is not a habit (3.26 vs. 2.58, P = 0.002), (4) I often forget about HH situations (3.60 vs. 2.89, P = 0.002), and (5) I do not perform HH because there is no disadvantage when I do not perform it (3.06 vs. 2.42, P = 0.008). In the category “HH causes pain and dryness of hands,” female doctors had a significantly higher tendency to agree (3.62 vs. 4.32, P = 0.003). Among the questions regarding emotional motivation, women had a higher tendency to agree that “Seeing a fellow employee perform bad HH angers me,” but there was no statistical significance (3.73 vs. 4.10, P = 0.07). CONCLUSION: There was a significant difference between male and female doctors regarding obstacles for HH. A campaign for HH based on these results could be helpful for increasing HH compliance. [Image: see text] DISCLOSURES: All authors: No reported disclosures.