Background: Healthcare-associated infections are a serious problem resulting in an extra burden on the patients and the hospitals. Most of these infections occur because of the transmission of microorganisms through the hands of the healthcare workers. The World Health Organization and the Center for Disease Control recommended hand hygiene as the simplest and most effective method in controlling these infections. However, physicians, as all other healthcare providers, lack the compliance to hand hygiene. Different factors play a role in this noncompliance (i.e., knowledge, availability of resources, stress, workload, etc.).
Objective: To assess the knowledge level about hand hygiene for all the physicians working at King Fahad Hospital of University, Dammam, KSA, and to check the availability of nonhuman resources for hand hygiene.
Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional design was used with a convenience sample including 209 physicians. Knowledge level was measured by the World Health Organization questionnaire.
Result It was found that 15% of the physicians possessed good knowledge and 68% fair knowledge about hand hygiene. The defect in their knowledge was about the minimal time needed for alcohol-based hand rubbing to kill most of the hand germs. All nonhuman resources for hand hygiene were available, except for the lotions or creams that are used for lubrication to prevent dryness after hand hygiene.
Conclusion: Compliance with hand hygiene is the simplest and the most valuable method of infection control in hospitals. Physicians had an approximately good knowledge but they are lacking some necessary information, which can be enhanced by educational programs.
Key words: Hand hygiene, knowledge, physicians, Saudi Arabia
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