Hand Washing Compliance and COVID-19: A Non-Participatory Observational Study among Hospital Visitors

  1. Biniyam Sahiledengle
  2. Yohannes Tekalegn
  3. Abulie Takele
  4. Demisu Zenbaba
  5. Zinash Teferu
  6. Alelign Tasew
  7. Tesfaye Assefa
  8. Kebebe Bekele
  9. Abdi Tesemma
  10. Habtamu Gezahegn
  11. Tadesse Awoke
  12. Bruce John Edward Quisido

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Abstract

Background

Hand washing remains a key measure for intercepting the dispatch of the Coronavirus disease (COVID-19). However, hand washing must be perpetuated properly using soap and water for at least 20 seconds. In response to the current COVID-19 pandemic, various hospitals have imposed mandatory hand washing to everyone prior entering the facilities, and when leaving. This study aimed to assess the hand washing compliance among visitors of a university referral hospital.

Methods

A non-participatory observational study was conducted in the main entrance of the hospital from April 27 to May 3, 2020, to measure hand washing compliance of its visitors. The quality of hand washing was assessed via direct observation for compliance with the recommended World Health Organization (WHO) core steps. Data were collected using Open Data Kit (ODK) mobile application.

Results

A total of 1,282 hospital visitors were observed, of which 874(68.2%) were males. Full hand washing compliances were observed among 0.9% (95% CI: 0.4–1.4) of the visitors. Withal, there was no difference in the compliances between genders (0.9% vs 0.7%, P = 0.745).

Conclusion

Despite the fact that proper hand washing with soap and water is proven to be one of the effective ways in preventing the spread of COVID-19, a significant number of hospital visitors did not practice standard hand washing procedures. Improvements in this measure are urgently needed in the face of the current COVID-19 pandemic.

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  1. ScreenIT

    SciScore for 10.1101/2020.06.02.20120022: (What is this?)

    Please note, not all rigor criteria are appropriate for all manuscripts.

    Table 1: Rigor

    Institutional Review Board StatementIACUC: Ethical approval and considerations: The study was approved by ethical review committee of Madda Walabu University Goba Referal Hospital Research and Technology Transfer Office and permission was sought from Goba Referral Hospital medical director office (Ref.no 01/2/12594).
    Randomizationnot detected.
    Blindingnot detected.
    Power Analysisnot detected.
    Sex as a biological variablenot detected.

    Table 2: Resources

    Software and Algorithms
    SentencesResources
    Operational Definition: Statistical Analysis: All observed data were collected using ODK and were exported to the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) 20.0 software program for analysis.
    Statistical Package for the Social Sciences
    suggested: (SPSS, RRID:SCR_002865)
    SPSS
    suggested: (SPSS, RRID:SCR_002865)

    Results from OddPub: We did not detect open data. We also did not detect open code. Researchers are encouraged to share open data when possible (see Nature blog).

    Results from LimitationRecognizer: We detected the following sentences addressing limitations in the study:
    There are few limitations in our study. First, we did not use the electronic hand washing observation system which offers a greater advantage over human observations. Second, despite our assumption, the presence of the data collectors may have influenced the hospital visitors’ hand washing activities, and it is likely to have a ‘Hawthorne effect’. Third, selectivity may be possible as the data collectors do not collect data from all people entering and leaving the health facility.

    Results from TrialIdentifier: No clinical trial numbers were referenced.

    Results from Barzooka: We did not find any issues relating to the usage of bar graphs.

    Results from JetFighter: We did not find any issues relating to colormaps.

    Results from rtransparent:
    • Thank you for including a conflict of interest statement. Authors are encouraged to include this statement when submitting to a journal.
    • Thank you for including a funding statement. Authors are encouraged to include this statement when submitting to a journal.
    • No protocol registration statement was detected.

    About SciScore

    SciScore is an automated tool that is designed to assist expert reviewers by finding and presenting formulaic information scattered throughout a paper in a standard, easy to digest format. SciScore checks for the presence and correctness of RRIDs (research resource identifiers), and for rigor criteria such as sex and investigator blinding. For details on the theoretical underpinning of rigor criteria and the tools shown here, including references cited, please follow this link.

  2. Version published to 10.1101/2020.06.02.20120022v1 on medRxiv