Assessment of hand hygiene of nursing and medical students

Abstract

Objective: to verify the ability of nursing and medical academics related to hand hygiene technique. Methods: this is a cross-sectional study carried out with 61 academics. Hands hygiene with 70.0% alcohol gel was used, in which Visirub® fluorescent dye was added, which allowed observing areas not contemplated during hand hygiene and investigation of the eight steps recommended by the World Health Organization. Results: 35.7% of nursing academics and 15.1% of medical students used the hand hygiene technique with 70.0% alcohol gel following the eight recommended steps. The least accomplished steps by the nursing academics were “rubbing the back of each hand with the back of the other”, as 46.4% did not perform it. Among medicine students, the least accomplished step was “rubbing the back of the fingers with the palm of the other hand”, by 63.6%. No scholar was able to contemplate all areas. Conclusion: no academic has been able to perform hand hygiene in all areas properly, hence the need to reinforce the correct technique.