Hand Contamination, Hand Hygiene Knowledge and Practice of Medical Trainees in Diagnostic Laboratory

The objective of this study was to determine bacterial contamination of the hands in a group of medical trainee students attending practical training, in order to verify the reliability of the information on hand hygiene (HH) adherence obtained by a self-reporting questionnaire. The study questionnaire was designed with the purpose of investigating the effectiveness of basic health education and distributed to a convenience sample of 36 medical trainee students. Data collected was combined with the bacterial contamination of the hands measured both at the point of entry and exit from the ward. The most effective procedure in reducing bacterial contamination was the alternate use of hand washing and hand rubbing compared to only one practice and the absence of hand hygiene (geom. mean: 190, 400 and 900 CFU/hand respectively). Hand contamination was significantly higher in students who declared to have hardly ever/never implemented HH teaching during clinical practice compared to those who stated to have done it frequently/always (geom. mean: 695 vs 260 CFU/hand). The current investigation further enriches something new to the subject of Hand Hygiene which is an assessment of bacterial contamination of the hand to confirm the reliability of the information provided from the study questionnaire. The study findings though emphasize some critical aspects in Hand Hygiene teaching among medical trainee students, focus that substantial knowledge follows with correct laboratory behaviour techniques and subsequently result in significant reduction of bacterial contamination of the hand.