Evaluation of Factors Affecting Post COVID-19 Pandemic Compliance to Hand Washing among Health Care Workers in a Nigerian Tertiary Hospital

Abstract

Objective: Compliance to hand hygiene is critical in the hospital settings. While most studies had focused on the rate of compliance during the COVID-19 pandemic, this may not be true in post pandemic era. The objective of the study was to evaluate the factors affecting post COVID-19 pandemic compliance to hand washing among health care workers in a Nigerian tertiary hospital.

Methods: This descriptive, cross-sectional study was designed and conducted at the University of Benin Teaching hospital, Benin City, Edo State. Nigeria from March to June 2022. The questionnaire was self-administered and adapted from World Health Organisation (WHO) risk assessment tool for health care workers in context of COVID -19. Descriptive and inferential statistics were performed. All data was analysed using SPSS software version 26 (IBM, Armonk, New York, US).  P- Value less than 5% was considered significant.

Results: The age range of the respondents was 18-70 years with a mean age of 37.3 ± 9.97years. The female to male ratio was 1.2: 1. The respondents that tested negative for COVID-19 were more than two-thirds (84.8%) however only 15.2% tested positive for COVID-19 virus. Majority (74.6%) of the respondents were unaware of their source of exposure to the COVID-19 virus. Almost (94.9%) all the respondents were compliant with hand washing guidelines. The demographic variables studied did not significantly affect the compliance to hand washing

Conclusion: Though there was an excellent compliance to hand washing by the healthcare workers but none of the demographic factors was associated with the rate of compliance.