Surveying awareness of hand hygiene guidelines in the Sanin region of Japan

Results The rates for awareness on the WHO and CDC hand hygiene guidelines were 26 (41%) and 28 (44%) of HCWs, respectively. 14 (22%) of HCWs were able to explain the WHO Five Moments of Hand Hygiene tool when asked, and 13 (20%) had seen the tool but could not explain its meaning. The subject HCWs had reported being introduced to the WHO guideline tools through publications, reviews in Japanese scholarly journals and in seminar presentations. The rest (58%)had no prior knowledge of the tool. All the subjects had never read the WHO guideline in English or a Japanese translation. However, 6 (9%) of the subjects had read the CDC guidelines. In addition, 43 (67%) of HCWs were willing to read the WHO guideline if a Japanese translation were available. There were many reasons why the survey subjects had not read the WHO Guideline, but the foremost reason was the lack of a Japanese translation.