EFFICIENCY OF HAND HYGIENE, RELATED KNOWLEDGE, ATTITUDE, AND BEHAVIOR AMONG UNDERGRADUATE AND POSTGRADUATE DENTAL STUDENTS

Background: Hand washing is known to reduce a risk of transmission of the pathogen between patient and healthcare workers. Therefore, the effectiveness of hand washing before surgical operation should be concerned. This study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of surgical hand washing and related knowledge, attitude and behavior among undergraduate (UG) and postgraduate (PG) dental students.Methods: The self-reported questionnaires measuring knowledge, attitude and behavior related to hand washing were handed out to four groups of 4th, 5th, 6th-year UG and PG dental students attending oral surgery clinic. Sample of bacteria on participants’ hands was collected by swab technique before, after surgical hand washing and after glove removal. After being cultured, the colony forming units (CFUs) were counted.Results: One hundred and twenty dental students comprising thirty-two 4th-year, thirty-four 5th-year, thirty 6th-year UG and twenty four PG dental students participated in this study. Among four groups of dental students, the 4th- year UG dental students had the significantly highest attitude scores while PG dental students had the lowest behavior scores of hand washing. The UG dental students had significantly lower recoverable bacteria on hands after hand washing than PG dental students. Moreover, significantly bacterial regrowth were observed in all of students’ hands after glove removal. The correlation between number of bacterial regrowth and duration of surgical procedure was also observed.Conclusion: The UG dental students had positive attitude, better behavior and superior effectiveness of hand washing when compared with those of PG dental students.