Evaluation of hand washing practices in nurses who has received training on hygienic hand wash

Evaluation of Hand Washing Practices in Nurses who has Received Training on Hygienic Hand Wash The Name of the Student: Mete Kağan KARAOĞLU Supervisor: Semiha AKIN PhD. BSc. RN. Assoc. Prof. Department: Nursing Objective: This study aims to evaluate the extent to which nurses' knowledge levels and hand wash practices are affected by a training on proper hand wash techniques and hygienic hand wash practices. Material and Method: The study was carried out on 63 nurses working in a hematology-oncology, chemotherapy, intensive care and transplantation units of a hospital. The "procedure of pre-test–post-test in one group" was used for the research, which was designed to be semi-experimental. Before the hygienic hand wash training, knowledge levels were evaluated using knowledge questionnaire (pre-test), and hand wash behaviors were observed using observation form. After hygienic hand wash training, post-test was applied in 2-4 weeks to evaluate the effectiveness of the training, and hand wash behaviors were observed for the second time using the observation form. Results: The mean age of the sample group was 24.73±4.84, with 88.9% of them being female, and 65.1% (n=41) being undergraduate nurses. Hand Hygiene Information Form scores after the hygienic hand wash training were found to be statistically higher than the pre-training scores (p<0.001). For majority of nurses, it was found that there was a statistically significant increase in the appropriate hand wash rates as compared to pre-training rates (p<0.001). There were differences between the knowledge level scores on hand hygiene and hand wash ratios according to many variables. Conclusion: The results of the study indicate that the training on proper hand wash technique and hygienic hand wash practices affects the knowledge level of nurses and hand wash behavior positively. In line with these results, it may be advisable to train nurses regularly on hand hygiene and to implement strategies to improve hand wash habits. Keywords: Hygienic hand washing, training, nurse, level of knowledge, observation.