Patient participation in hand hygiene among health professionals

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the perception and attitude of health professionals (HPs) about the patient participation in hand hygiene (HH). METHOD: A cross-sectional study with 150 HPs from a university hospital in Brazil. A descriptive analysis was conducted. RESULTS: Simple hand hygiene was the preferred method of HPs, rather than hand rubbing with alcohol-based solutions. A total of 83.3% of the HPs supported the patient participation in reminding them about HH, but 48% reported that they would feel uncomfortable; 45.3%, comfortable; and 20.7% were familiar with the "Patients for Patient Safety" program. CONCLUSION: HPs showed limited knowledge about HH, opposing recommendations on the topic. The contradiction between the HPs acceptance and attitude when questioned by the patient regarding HH was revealed, reflecting a lack of knowledge about the WHO program and the need to implement educational practices in health.