Demographics and training factors associated with hand hygiene among nursing students in Solwezi, Zambia: a cross-sectional study

Abstract

Background: The low compliance to effective hand hygiene has continued to fuel the high prevalence of Hospital Acquired Infections (HAI) in Africa. The large number of nursing students has a potentially high impact at reducing the HAI public health problem in Zambia. Objective: To determine the demographic/training factors associated with nursing student’s hand hygiene knowledge in Solwezi, Zambia thus provide information for action necessary to reduce HAI. Methods: A quantitative cross-sectional survey using primary data collected via a WHO validated selfadministered questionnaire distributed to student nurses≥ 18 years at Solwezi College of Nursing. 167/206 (81.1%) participants were recruited via stratified random sampling. Descriptive statistics and inferential statistics (Fisher’s exact test and multinomial logistic regression) were calculated using SPSS version 25.0.Results: Most (60.5%) nursing students had moderate hand hygiene knowledge. Using Fisher’s exact test, hand hygiene knowledge was significantly associated with three training factors: year of study (p=0.018), program of study (p=0.003), routine use of alcohol-based hand rub (p=0.017), and one perception factor: average percentage of hospitalised patients who develop HAI (p=0.015). Regression analysis showed that only program of study was significantly associated with hand hygiene knowledge; general nursing students were 24 times more likely to have a moderate knowledge score compared to public health nursing students, adjusted odds ratio =24.859, p = 0.029.Conclusion:Public health nursing students posed the highest risk of spreading HAI owing to inadequate hand hygiene knowledge; tailor made interventions should consider the different program specific attributes as guided by this study