Int J Infect Control 2017, v13:i2 doi: 10.3396/IJIC.v13i2.009.17 Page 1 of 8 not for citation purposes HH practises amongst patients Prasad et al. Ashita Prasad, Harrison Ng Chok, Lesley Wilkes Western Sydney University, Penrith South DC, New South Wales, Australia v International Journal of Infection Control ISSN 1996-9783 www.ijic.info DOI number: 10.3396/IJIC.v13i2.009.17 Hand hygiene practices amongst patients ORIGINAL ARTICLE Corresponding Author Lesley Wilkes Centre for Nursing Research and Practice Development First Floor - Court Building - Nepean Hospital Nepean Blue Mountains Local Health District PO Box 63 Penrith NSW 2751 E: l.wilkes@westernsydney.edu.au Abstract Hand hygiene is seen as one of the principal means of preventing hospital acquired infections for both staff and patients. While there are many guidelines for hand hygiene practices for health professionals, there is a scarcity of research studies about the attitudes and hand hygiene practices among patients. The aim of this study is to explore nurses’ and patients’ attitudes and behaviours towards patient hand hygiene at a tertiary teaching hospital in Western Sydney. This descriptive study used patient observations of hand hygiene practices using a validated observation tool, face-to-face interviews with patients, and a survey of nurses. Interviews and surveys were textually and quantitatively analysed. A total of 105 patient observations, 50 patient interviews and 51 nurse surveys were collected. The majority of patients and nurses reported hand hygiene as an important aspect of everyday life in preventing infection in the hospital setting. However, this contrasts with the poor patient hand hygiene compliance identifed using the patient observation tool. Patient interviews found that more encouragement and education by staff, increased signage and easily accessible facilities will increase hand hygiene practices. This study highlights the importance of patient input in understanding the entirety of hand hygiene practice from both the nurses and patients point of view. Further training of nursing staff in promoting a hand hygiene friendly environment will have a powerful infuence among patients and in delivering patient centred care. Keywords: hand hygiene, patients, attitude, behaviour, nursing staff, teaching hospitals, surveys and questionnaires, observation, cross infection