Hand Hygiene Awareness in Saudi Nursing Students
This document will describe the level of hand hygiene awareness depicted by nursing students from Saudi Arabia. The sample for the study will be from the five educational hospitals situated in different provinces of Saudi Arabia. The sample size utilized will be 500, and will be from each of the educational centers. A simple random sampling is the most appropriate method to apply. The study utilizes a quantitative research design for its data collection. The participants of the study will have to answer the structured questions in the questionnaire. The findings of this study will be useful in making decisions that will help enhance hand hygiene among nursing students around the world thus the reduced disease transmission.
Studies conducted by scientists from diverse locations around have shown hand hygiene to be significant in and endeavor to control the transmission of the disease-causing pathogens among patients. It is apparent that some health care professionals have failed to maintain hand hygiene thus the spread of diseases. Reports have depicted direct contact to be amongst the basic causes of transmission of the disease-causing pathogens in a health care setting (Alston & Bowles, 2003). Researchers have indicated handwashing to be a principal intervention that would help curb the rising disease transmission cases in the hospital units. However, the noncompliance depicted by some health care professionals has acted as an obstacle towards formulating strategies for controlling infections. Although sources have depicted the availability of other approaches to monitoring a nurses hand hygiene, there exists no appropriate measure of conducting such an activity effectively. Therefore, this study aims to describe the hand hygiene awareness among nurses students of Saudi Arabia from five dissimilar hospitals located in assorted regions. The main reason for conducting this research is to help identify the main reasons behind the rising rate of transmission reported at dissimilar health care settings.
The literature review
This document reviews its literature from numerous currently published articles, discussing the issue of hand hygiene awareness by nurse students from different hospitals situated in diverse regions. In accessing these articles, the study has utilized two databases, which are CINAHL Plus and Ovid MEDLINE. In many countries around the globe, researchers have devoted their efforts towards understanding how poor hand hygiene has significantly contributed to the escalating transmission of diseases amongst patients. The central reason for the transmission is the negligence depicted by many healthcare professionals, who work with patients on a daily basis. Numerous articles have explained some studies undertaken by researchers possessing an enormous desire to understand how serious the health care professionals have perceived this issue.
The knowledge depicted by different nursing students on hand hygiene
A survey conducted by Gail (2007) aimed to understand the hand hygiene practices of nursing students from dissimilar groups. The survey was qualitative in nature and it utilized numerous data collection procedures. Amongst the procedures used was the interview method, which could help to examine an individuals knowledge on the issue. In addition to the interview method, the survey utilized the grounded theory in the data collection phase. The open-ended type of questions provided room for the participants to contribute fully to the topic. After a careful examination of the answers provided by the participating nursing students, the researcher could alter the question thus providing room for detailed feedback (Gail, 2007). The results of the research depicted a low proportion of nurses who complied with the handwashing guidelines. Amongst the participants, the study indicated a 55% compliance rate, which is not the expected percentage.
Hand washing practices by different nursing students in Saudi Arabia
Amin & Wehedy (2009) participated in a quantitative study on handwashing at diverse surgical wards in numerous health care facilities in, Saudi Arabia. To understand whether health care professionals adhere to the handwashing rules, numerous researchers conducted an observational study on one of the health care facilities that on average could hospitalize 17,350 patients annually. Therefore, it is evident that 50% of health care workers did not stick to the handwashing rules (Amin & Wehedy, 2009).
Perceptions on hand hygiene
Barrett & Randle (2008) conducted a qualitative study that aimed to establish the perceptions portrayed by different nursing students on the issue of hand hygiene. The study indicated that decontamination of an individuals hands could curb the rate of disease transmission. In an endeavour to identify some of the methods to use for controlling infections, the researchers utilized some structured interviews for data collection procedure (Barrett & Randle, 2008). The result of the study indicated that time, business, as well as the clinical procedure acted as barriers towards complying to hand hygiene guidelines.
Hand hygiene practices among nursing students in care hospitals in Kuwait
. (2011) conducted a research at Kuwait university faculty of medicine. The main objective was to examine the nurses hand hygiene compliance. The research was extensive since it involved six hospitals, all situated in Kuwait. The qualitative study utilized the questionnaire, as well the observation tools for data collection. First, the researchers made an observation on the different practices portrayed by such nurses. The results depicted a 33.4% level of hand washing compliance (Al-Wazzan et al., 2011). The results of the study depicted poor hand hygiene compliance.
Hand washing in-Shams University in Cairo
Khaled, Abd & Bakr, (2008), performed a qualitative survey at Ain-Shams University in Cairo that aimed to establish the knowledge, perception, as well as the hand washing practice amid health care professionals. In its data collection, the study utilized both observational, and the questionnaire methods. They focused on the 10 different departments of the hospital before providing their results. The compliance was high amongst doctors, rated at 37.5% (Khaled, Abd & Bakr, 2008). In addition, nurses portrayed more knowledge on hand washing as compared to doctors. However, the general compliance rate was low among the studied groups.
Beliefs and perceptions depicted by nurses at Sarawak General hospital
The above study conducted by Bakar (2009), was due to the researchers belief that preventing a disease occurrence is of substantial use as compared to curing a disease. The reason behind this study was due to an epidemic that occurred at Sarawak General Hospital in 1997. Therefore, the main aim for the study was to establish nurses beliefs and perceptions of hand washing on the disease transmission. The qualitative study utilized both interview and observation method for analyzing their beliefs, as well as perceptions. More than 70% of the nurses perceived hand washing as pivotal in disease prevention.
Hand washing practices at Hera General Hospital
Bukhari, et al. (2010) conducted a quantitative survey at Hera General Hospital, which is located at Makah in Saudi Arabia. The intention of the survey was to determine the compliance rate depicted by the nursing students in the hospital (., 2011). It was a quantitative study as it utilized both the observational data collection methods, as well as the prospective method. In addition to nurses, doctors and clinical technicians also participated in the study. Prior to the observations, Bhukari, et al. (2010), provided education on hand hygiene to the three categories of participants. The study indicated that the compliance rate for the total population of professionals only reached 50% after a continued education.
Hand hygiene compliance at University of Geneva Hospitals
Pittet (2001) conducted a survey in the University of Geneva hospitals with the sole aim of establishing the rate of compliance depicted by the nursing students together with other health care professionals in different departments. The study conducted was quantitative in nature since it involved the usage of observation method in its data collection (Pittet, 2001). The researcher has to educate participants on the most appropriate methods for hand washing. They learned that the use of to be effective in fighting the disease-causing microorganisms (Pittet, 2001). The overall compliance rate depicted by the health workers was less than 50%. This is indicative of a low compliance rate, hence the necessity of conducting a study aimed to establish the underlying cause for the noncompliance.
Hand hygiene practices in Greece
According to Mortel, T. (2010), the percentage of students having adequate knowledge on hand washing is low. A qualitative survey conducted by SangKard on students from a number of health care facilities from Greece depicted an insufficient knowledge on the essence of hand washing. The researchers came to this conclusion after submitting questionnaires to numerous students in the field of nursing and medical health. For instance, it tried to establish the rate of compliance to the hand hygiene guidelines provided. In addition to the compliance rate, it also tried to measure the nurse students beliefs on hand hygiene. The total compliance rate depicted by the nursing students was 52.3% (Mortel, 2010).
Hand washing adherence at Turkey
According to Celik and Kocasli (2008), the proportion of nursing students who apply the information about hand washing is minimal. This study, conducted performed at different educational health facilities located at diverse locations in Turkey involved 430 students. The two researchers performed a quantitative-descriptive survey and utilized a questionnaire method for the data collection procedure. The results of the analysis indicated that 71.9% of all the students applied the knowledge acquired from programs enlightening such students on the significance of hand washing for infections control (Akyol, 2005). Despite the appropriateness of teaching methods utilized, only a limited proportion adheres to such teachings.
