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An Evaluation of the Hand Hygiene Behaviour and Compliance of the General Public When Using Public Restrooms in Northern Ireland (NI) during the Initial Weeks of the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) Pandemic
Background: The ongoing novel coronavirus (COVID-19) global pandemic has resulted in significant levels of morbidity and mortality worldwide, particularly among the elderly and immuno-suppressed groups. Although adequate hand hygiene (HH) behaviour and compliance is widely accepted as being the most...
Autores principales: | , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
MDPI
2021
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8296206/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34204779 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18126385 |
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author | Lawson, Aaron Cameron, Robert Vaganay-Miller, Marie |
author_facet | Lawson, Aaron Cameron, Robert Vaganay-Miller, Marie |
author_sort | Lawson, Aaron |
collection | PubMed |
description | Background: The ongoing novel coronavirus (COVID-19) global pandemic has resulted in significant levels of morbidity and mortality worldwide, particularly among the elderly and immuno-suppressed groups. Although adequate hand hygiene (HH) behaviour and compliance is widely accepted as being the most effective self-protective measure in preventing the spread of diseases like COVID-19, previous research suggests that normal hand hygiene compliance is poor, but generally improves during a disease pandemic. This research aimed to evaluate the hand hygiene behaviour and compliance of the general public in the initial weeks of the COVID-19 pandemic in Northern Ireland (NI). Methods: This cross-sectional study involved the use of infrared-imaging cameras to observe the hand hygiene behaviour and compliance of the general public when using one set of male and female public restrooms. Results: The findings of this study indicated that the level of hand hygiene compliance of the general public was poor in the initial weeks, with 82.93% overall not washing their hands adequately. Conclusions: Inadequate HH behaviour and compliance may have added significantly to the rapid rate of spread of COVID-19 in the initial weeks of the pandemic in NI. Current public health campaigns do not appear, based on this study, to have the desired impact and may need to be reviewed or re-enforced in order to achieve the levels of hand hygiene compliance required to slow the spread of COVID-19 and other communicable diseases in the future. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-8296206 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2021 |
publisher | MDPI |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-82962062021-07-23 An Evaluation of the Hand Hygiene Behaviour and Compliance of the General Public When Using Public Restrooms in Northern Ireland (NI) during the Initial Weeks of the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) Pandemic Lawson, Aaron Cameron, Robert Vaganay-Miller, Marie Int J Environ Res Public Health Article Background: The ongoing novel coronavirus (COVID-19) global pandemic has resulted in significant levels of morbidity and mortality worldwide, particularly among the elderly and immuno-suppressed groups. Although adequate hand hygiene (HH) behaviour and compliance is widely accepted as being the most effective self-protective measure in preventing the spread of diseases like COVID-19, previous research suggests that normal hand hygiene compliance is poor, but generally improves during a disease pandemic. This research aimed to evaluate the hand hygiene behaviour and compliance of the general public in the initial weeks of the COVID-19 pandemic in Northern Ireland (NI). Methods: This cross-sectional study involved the use of infrared-imaging cameras to observe the hand hygiene behaviour and compliance of the general public when using one set of male and female public restrooms. Results: The findings of this study indicated that the level of hand hygiene compliance of the general public was poor in the initial weeks, with 82.93% overall not washing their hands adequately. Conclusions: Inadequate HH behaviour and compliance may have added significantly to the rapid rate of spread of COVID-19 in the initial weeks of the pandemic in NI. Current public health campaigns do not appear, based on this study, to have the desired impact and may need to be reviewed or re-enforced in order to achieve the levels of hand hygiene compliance required to slow the spread of COVID-19 and other communicable diseases in the future. MDPI 2021-06-12 /pmc/articles/PMC8296206/ /pubmed/34204779 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18126385 Text en © 2021 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). |
spellingShingle | Article Lawson, Aaron Cameron, Robert Vaganay-Miller, Marie An Evaluation of the Hand Hygiene Behaviour and Compliance of the General Public When Using Public Restrooms in Northern Ireland (NI) during the Initial Weeks of the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) Pandemic |
title | An Evaluation of the Hand Hygiene Behaviour and Compliance of the General Public When Using Public Restrooms in Northern Ireland (NI) during the Initial Weeks of the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) Pandemic |
title_full | An Evaluation of the Hand Hygiene Behaviour and Compliance of the General Public When Using Public Restrooms in Northern Ireland (NI) during the Initial Weeks of the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) Pandemic |
title_fullStr | An Evaluation of the Hand Hygiene Behaviour and Compliance of the General Public When Using Public Restrooms in Northern Ireland (NI) during the Initial Weeks of the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) Pandemic |
title_full_unstemmed | An Evaluation of the Hand Hygiene Behaviour and Compliance of the General Public When Using Public Restrooms in Northern Ireland (NI) during the Initial Weeks of the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) Pandemic |
title_short | An Evaluation of the Hand Hygiene Behaviour and Compliance of the General Public When Using Public Restrooms in Northern Ireland (NI) during the Initial Weeks of the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) Pandemic |
title_sort | evaluation of the hand hygiene behaviour and compliance of the general public when using public restrooms in northern ireland (ni) during the initial weeks of the novel coronavirus (covid-19) pandemic |
topic | Article |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8296206/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34204779 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18126385 |
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