Knowledge about hand hygiene in the Generation Z: A questionnaire-based survey among dental students, trainee nurses and medical technical assistants in training

Claas Baier; Urs-Vito Albrecht; Ella Ebadi; Ralf-Peter Vonberg; Reinhard Schilke

doi:10.1016/j.ajic.2020.02.002

Knowledge about hand hygiene in the Generation Z: A questionnaire-based survey among dental students, trainee nurses and medical technical assistants in training

Am J Infect Control. 2020 Jun;48(6):708-712. doi: 10.1016/j.ajic.2020.02.002. Epub 2020 Mar 28.

Authors

Claas Baier¹, Urs-Vito Albrecht², Ella Ebadi³, Ralf-Peter Vonberg³, Reinhard Schilke⁴

Affiliations

¹ Institute for Medical Microbiology and Hospital Epidemiology, Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany. Electronic address: baier.claas@mh-hannover.de.
² Peter L Reichertz Institute for Medical Informatics, Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany.
³ Institute for Medical Microbiology and Hospital Epidemiology, Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany.
⁴ Department of Conservative Dentistry, Periodontology and Preventive Dentistry, Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany.

PMID: 32234262
DOI: 10.1016/j.ajic.2020.02.002

Abstract

Alcohol-based hand disinfection is the key measure to prevent healthcare-associated infections and nosocomial transmission of pathogens. We conducted a survey among dental students, trainee nurses and medical technical assistants in training from the Generation Z to determine their knowledge regarding hand hygiene and to optimize education. Overall knowledge was worthy of improvement. Females performed better than males. Specifically tailored efforts seem necessary to increase hand hygiene competence in the Generation Z.

Keywords: Compliance; Education.

MeSH terms

Cross Infection* / prevention & control
Female
Guideline Adherence
Hand Disinfection
Hand Hygiene*
Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice
Humans
Male
Nurses*
Students, Dental
Students, Medical*
Surveys and Questionnaires