Use of a simulation intervention to examine differences in nursing students' hand hygiene knowledge, beliefs, and behaviors

•Simulation was not shown to change sophomore nursing students' hand hygiene knowledge, beliefs, or practices using the HHQ.•Social desirability responding affected results of the HHQ, with responses for the HHPI and HIS having the most skew.•Glo Germ was less visible on students' hands in the afternoon as compared to morning use.

BackgroundAlthough hand hygiene remains an essential aspect of quality care, adherence to best patient safety practices continues to pose major challenges.ObjectivesThe objectives of this study are to examine hand hygiene knowledge, beliefs, practices, perceived importance and behaviors using Social Cognitive Theory and simulation-based intervention.DesignParticipants were taken from a convenience sample of 131 undergraduate nursing students enrolled in a nursing fundamentals course at an urban university in the midwestern United States, and then randomly assigned to their respective groups. Using an experimental pretest-posttest design, control and intervention groups received the same lecture pertaining to hand hygiene and 3 data collection points where van de Mortel's Hand Hygiene Questionnaire (HHQ) was administered. In addition, the intervention group viewed a 6.5 min video related to healthcare acquired infection and participated in 4 simulated situations requiring hand hygiene, based on World Health Organization guidelines. For all students, the hand hygiene technique was assessed through the use of Glo Germ, followed by handwashing and photography under ultraviolet light (posttest only). Image illumination was analyzed using image processing software. Microbiological sampling plates (pretest-posttest) were assessed quantitatively by colony counting.ResultsStudy findings did not support differences in the intervention group for the 5 hypothesized relationships. Social desirability responding and negative item confusion were found to occur with the HHQ in the student population. There was a significant difference in the UV hand photographs, with students in the afternoon having lower values than students in the morning.ConclusionsGiven the study results, there were no definitive educational recommendations to teach hand hygiene to nursing students. Future research should continue to further examine multi-focal modalities to enhance adherence to hand hygiene practices, as well as control for extraneous mediating or moderating variables found in educational settings.