Muqadas Munir, Mishal Maqbool, Sana Bilal, Maqbool Hussain, Zeeshan Ghani, Asma Yaqub.
Handwashing Practices in Health Care Professionals of allied Hospitals of Rawalpindi Medical University.
Ann Pak Inst Med Sci Jan ;14(4):269-73.

Objective: To assess the practice of hand washing in the teaching hospitals of Rawalpindi Medical University. Methodology: A descriptive cross sectional study was conducted by on-site observations of HCP regarding hand-hygiene compliance in allied hospitals of Rawalpindi Medical University. Health care professionals having any sort of allergy or sensitivity problem of hands were excluded. A predesigned checklist was used to collect the data. In all the hospitals included in our study, a proper technique, provided by the World Health Organization (WHO), is displayed in almost all the wards. Results: A total of 218 respondents (74 doctors, 71 medical students and 73 nurses) were observed. Out of these, medical students had best hand-washing practices when compared to that of doctors and nurses. Basic hand-washing facilities were available in all the hospitals but only 36.6% of health-care professionals (10.58% Doctors, 19.58% Medical students, 6.45% nurses) with p value=0.05 practiced hand-washing. Moreover, out of the 36.6%, only 19.22% (p=0.01) followed WHO technique of handwashing, whereas, 86.7% of them used antiseptic solution. Conclusion: Despite the bedside availability of antiseptic solution in all the three hospitals, inadequate compliance was seen in health-care professionals. A multi-disciplinary, multidimensional approach is required to challenge the problems of non-compliance.

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