Garzaro Paulina, Fahsen Natalie, Pieters Michelle M, Craig Christina, Pratt Caroline Q, Lozier Matthew J, Cordon-Rosales Celia, Call Douglas R, Ramay Brooke M
Center for Health Studies, Universidad del Valle de Guatemala, Guatemala City, Guatemala.
Division of Foodborne, Waterborne, and Environmental Diseases, National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Atlanta, Georgia, United States of America.
PLOS Glob Public Health. 2025 May 14;5(5):e0004546. doi: 10.1371/journal.pgph.0004546. eCollection 2025.
Healthcare workers and patients are at continual risk for healthcare-associated infections due to poor hand hygiene. Programs that support appropriate hand hygiene practices may mitigate this risk, although implementation is challenged by several barriers, including limited availability of hand hygiene products at the point of care, as described by the world health organization (WHO). In this study, we used mixed methodologies, including in-depth interviews and surveys to assess the knowledge, attitudes, practices, and barriers to appropriate hand hygiene practices among healthcare workers from 19 public primary and secondary healthcare facilities in Quetzaltenango, Guatemala. The qualitative data analyzed by thematic axes and quantitative data are described. We found that healthcare workers have a strong understanding of the importance of hand hygiene and how it contributes to patient health. We encountered knowledge gaps about the route of transmission of pathogens and how to prevent spread. Nevertheless, healthcare workers acknowledged the importance of training programs to strengthen hand hygiene practices. Potential barriers to improving hand hygiene practices included a lack of adequate infrastructure and resources for practicing hand hygiene with alcohol hand sanitizer, soap, and water. The results of this evaluation provide useful information for supporting hand hygiene practices in participant healthcare facilities and contributes to efforts to reduce the risks of healthcare-associated infections. Our findings likely apply to local healthcare facilities in other low- and middle-income countries and may be used to design hand hygiene educational materials for healthcare workers.
由于手部卫生习惯不佳，医护人员和患者持续面临医疗保健相关感染的风险。支持适当手部卫生习惯的项目可能会降低这种风险，不过实施过程受到若干障碍的挑战，包括世界卫生组织（WHO）所描述的护理点手部卫生用品供应有限。在本研究中，我们采用了混合方法，包括深入访谈和调查，以评估危地马拉克萨尔特南戈19家公立中小学医疗保健机构医护人员对手部卫生适当做法的知识、态度、行为及障碍。描述了通过主题轴分析的定性数据和定量数据。我们发现医护人员对手部卫生的重要性以及它如何促进患者健康有深刻理解。我们发现他们在病原体传播途径以及如何预防传播方面存在知识空白。尽管如此，医护人员承认培训项目对加强手部卫生做法的重要性。改善手部卫生做法的潜在障碍包括缺乏使用酒精洗手液、肥皂和水进行手部卫生的足够基础设施和资源。本次评估结果为支持参与研究的医疗保健机构的手部卫生做法提供了有用信息，并有助于降低医疗保健相关感染风险的努力。我们的研究结果可能适用于其他低收入和中等收入国家的当地医疗保健机构，并可用于为医护人员设计手部卫生教育材料。
