Hand Hygiene Practices among Nurses and Midwives at the Hospital in the Covid-19 Era

The purpose of this study is to assess hand hygiene practices among nurses and midwives at the hospital in this COVID-19 era. The survey employed a health facility-based cross-sectional study design and a simple random sampling technique to recruit respondents. A sample size of 114 nurses and midwives was selected for the study. A structured study questionnaire was used to collect data from respondents. Descriptive statistics were conducted on participants' sociodemographic characteristics and knowledge of COVID-19. A Pearson chi-square test was conducted to determine the strength of the association between sociodemographic variables and knowledge of COVID-19. The Spearman rank-order correlation coefficient is used to establish the correlation between the dependent and the predictor variables. The study demonstrated that nurses and midwives had fair knowledge (51.8%) of the COVID-19 pandemic and hand hygiene practices. The study also indicated that a significant positive correlation existed between nurses' and midwives' knowledge of COVID-19 and the processes of hand hygiene [Spearman (Rho) = 0.681, P = 0.001]. Moreover, a positive correlation was found between nurses' and midwives' knowledge of COVID-19 and hand hygiene compliance [Spearman (Rho) = 0.391, P =.0001] in preventing COVID-19 infection. At the end, it was established that the level of health workers' knowledge on COVID-19 has a significant relationship to hand hygiene processes and compliance with infection prevention control. However, the study recommends that the Government of Ghana, through the Ministry of Health and its agencies such as GHS and CHAG, among others, embark on intensive health promotion and educational programs for health care providers to keep them informed about the COVID-19 pandemic.

The purpose of this study is to assess hand hygiene practices among nurses and midwives at the hospital in this COVID-19 era. The survey employed a health facility-based cross-sectional study design and a simple random sampling technique to recruit respondents. A sample size of 114 nurses and midwives was selected for the study. A structured study questionnaire was used to collect data from respondents. Descriptive statistics were conducted on participants' sociodemographic characteristics and knowledge of COVID-19. A Pearson chi-square test was conducted to determine the strength of the association between sociodemographic variables and knowledge of COVID-19. The Spearman rank-order correlation coefficient is used to establish the correlation between the dependent and the predictor variables. The study demonstrated that nurses and midwives had fair knowledge (51.8%) of the COVID-19 pandemic and hand hygiene practices. The study also indicated that a significant positive correlation existed between nurses' and midwives' knowledge of COVID-19 and the processes of hand hygiene [Spearman (Rho) = 0.681, P = 0.001]. Moreover, a positive correlation was found between nurses' and midwives' knowledge of COVID-19 and hand hygiene compliance [Spearman (Rho) = 0.391, P =.0001] in preventing COVID-19 infection. At the end, it was established that the level of health workers' knowledge on COVID-19 has a significant relationship to hand hygiene processes and compliance with infection prevention control. However, the study recommends that the Government of Ghana, through the Ministry of Health and its agencies such as GHS and CHAG, among others, embark on intensive health promotion and educational programs for health care providers to keep them informed about the COVID-19 pandemic.