Barriers to the Hand Washing from the Viewpoint of Nurses: A Cross-sectional Study

Hand washing is one of the most efficient and effective ways to prevent the transmission of microorganisms from one person or one place to the patients. However, despite the importance of hand washing by the medical personnel, the results of some studies indicate lack of proper hand washing by them. The present study aimed to determine the barriers to hand washing from the viewpoint of nurses working in general hospitals affiliated to Shiraz University of Medical Sciences in 2017. This was a cross-sectional and descriptive-analytical study conducted on 312 nurses working in general hospitals affiliated to Shiraz University of Medical Sciences. The required data were collected using a valid and reliable questionnaire consisting of two parts, including the studied nurses' demographic characteristics and 48 items related to the hand hygiene barriers in four dimensions of individual barriers (12 items), managerial barriers (19 items), equipment barriers (10 items), and environmental barriers (7 items). The collected data were analyzed using SPSS 21.0 through independent t-test and ANOVA. The p value of less than 0.05 was regarded as statistically significant. The results showed that equipment barriers and individual barriers had, respectively, the highest (2.85 ± 0.65) and lowest (2.62 ± 0.46) means. Also, there were significant relationships between the means of managerial and equipment barriers and the studied nurses' sex, between the means of individual and managerial barriers and the nurses' employment status, between the means of equipment barriers and the nurses’ marital status, and finally, between the means of managerial barriers and the nurses' working shifts (P-value<0.05). According to the results, in order to remove the barriers to the nurses' hand washing, the following suggestions can be made: running adequate and appropriate training courses and developing a proper culture in the hospital wards to increase hand washing, using appropriate monitoring and motivational systems; providing timely, adequate facilities and equipment and also selecting appropriate disinfectants for nurses' hand washing, etc.