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To investigate medical and nursing students' education on hand hygiene, their attitude on hand hygiene education and how this education influences their hand hygiene knowledge and practices.Hospital-acquired infections are associated with prolonged hospitalisation and mortality. The most effective measure for their control is healthcare workers' hand hygiene compliance. Since medical and nursing students constitute the future healthcare workers, our study focuses on them.Cross-sectional study METHODS: This study was conducted during the academic year 2016-2017, using a modified World Health Organisation questionnaire. Our sample consisted of 132 medical and 111 nursing students from National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece. In data analysis, the Mann-Whitney and Fisher's exact tests were applied to compare differences in continuous variables and proportions in categorical variables, respectively. Knowledge and practices overall scores were calculated per student group. Multiple linear regression analyses were performed to assess the influence of potential confounders on these scores.We found that 73.1% of medical and 98.2% of nursing students had received relevant education, which was reported as "only theoretical" by 77.4% of the former and as "hands-on and theoretical" by 88.1% of the latter group. Besides the risk of infection, knowledge acquired in lectures and trainer's behaviour were also considered very influential factors shaping hand hygiene attitude in both groups. Overall, medical students reported better hand hygiene practices than nursing ones (69.9% and 59.7%, respectively; p 0.001). The opposite finding was observed regarding their overall knowledge on hand hygiene (57.2% of medical versus 60.4% of nursing students, p = 0.04). The majority of students (86.6% of all participants; p 0.001) supported the inclusion of compulsory hand hygiene education in their curriculum. Compulsory education and seminars were assessed as the most effective measures to increase hand hygiene compliance (71.4% of all students).In our study, medical students scored better in practices questions than nursing students; this did not apply for the knowledge score. The majority of students supported the inclusion of compulsory education on hand hygiene principles in their Departments' curricula, highlighting compulsory education and seminars as the most effective measures to increase compliance with hand hygiene.

The effectiveness of hand hygiene (HH) on reducing the transmission of contagious diseases is widely known, although its use has been commonly associated with the area of healthcare. During the COVID-19 pandemic, HH was one of the main measures established to contain the transmission of this virus. The identification of the main barriers and facilitators of HH in young adults (aged 18–29 years old) will contribute to the better planning of HH training and its posterior success. A total of 716 young adults participated in the study by completing the ad hoc online questionnaire (#YesWeHand), which analyzed, among other aspects, the age range, gender and field of study that they belonged to. From the total participants, 81.3% indicated knowing how to perform HH correctly, while 49.4% affirmed having received training. The main reason for performing HH was concern for their own safety and that of others (75.8%), while forgetfulness (36.5%) was the main reason for not performing HH. In the group of young adults, being female, aged between 22 and 25 years old, and having studied in the area of Health Sciences, had a positive influence on correct HH. It is deemed necessary to maintain HH beyond the primary education stages, and to adapt it to different fields of education, ages, and genders, in order to maximize its success. Given the overrepresentation of participants from the healthcare field, it would be desirable to conduct more studies to ensure a better representation of the different educational levels and fields of study of the participants, in order to identify, in a more reliable way, the variables that influence HH.

Inadequate hand washing among chefs is a major contributor to outbreaks of foodborne illnesses originating in restaurants. Although many studies have evaluated hand hygiene knowledge (HHK) and self-reported hand washing behaviors (HWBs) in restaurant workers in different countries, little is known about HHK and HWBs in restaurant kitchen chefs, particularly in China. In this study, we interviewed 453 restaurant kitchen chefs in Jiangsu Province in China regarding their HHK and HWBs and used Chi-square tests (Fisher exact tests), pairwise comparisons, and linear regression models to analyze the responses and identify determinants of HHK and HWBs. Results reveal that less frequent hand washing after leaving work temporarily and after touching used cutlery were the main issues among restaurant kitchen chefs in Jiangsu Province. Kitchen hands had lower levels of HHK and engaged less frequently in good HWBs than the other type of chefs. Furthermore, working in a large restaurant and having worked in the restaurant industry for a longer amount of time were correlated with better HHK and HWBs. These findings suggest that close attention should be paid to the HWBs of chefs during food preparation, that kitchen hands are the key group of restaurant kitchen workers who need training in HHK, and that regulatory activities should focus on small-scale restaurants.

Summary: Hand hygiene is an important component of infection control, which is critical to ensuring patients’ safety in hospitals. Nursing students are regarded as healthcare workers in training and can also be vehicles of cross-contamination within the hospital. Thus, this study aimed to identify the predictors of hand hygiene practice among Saudi nursing students. A descriptive, cross-sectional, self-reported study was conducted among 198 Saudi nursing students. Knowledge, attitude, and practice of hand hygiene were assessed using the WHO Hand Hygiene Knowledge Questionnaire for Health-Care Workers and its adopted scales. A regression analysis was performed to identify the predictors of hand hygiene practice. The respondents demonstrated moderate knowledge of hand hygiene (mean 13.20 ± 2.80). The majority displayed a moderate attitude toward hand hygiene (52.1%), while only a few reported a poor attitude (13.1%). Approximately 68.7%, 29.8%, and 1.5% of the respondents reported moderate, good, and poor practice of hand hygiene, respectively. Having a good attitude toward hand hygiene, being male, being aware that hand hygiene is an effective intervention in preventing healthcare-associated infections (HAIs), attendance at hand hygiene trainings and seminars, and being in the lower academic level of nursing education were identified as predictors of better hand hygiene practice. The importance of ensuring a positive attitude toward hand hygiene and improving awareness of hand hygiene is emphasized, as are educational interventions. Educational interventions should be implemented to reinforce knowledge and instill a positive attitude toward hand hygiene. Keywords: Hand hygiene knowledge, Hand hygiene attitude, Hand hygiene practice, Hand hygiene predictors, Saudi nursing students