摘要：Hospital acquired infections have been recognized as a critical problem affecting patient care. Factors such asinadequate knowledge of hand washing techniques, long nails, wearing of rings and water related problems affectthe practice of hand washing. The main purpose of the study was to assess the practice of hand washing amongnurses for prevention of nosocomial infections in General Hospital Ikot Ekpene, Akwa Ibom State.The study was adescriptive study. A total population of all nurses directly rendering care to patients in medical surgical maternityand intensive care unit were used. Structured questionnaire was designed to collect data from the 102 respondentsused for the study. Descriptive statistics like tables and percentage was used to analyse data. The result revealedthat 84(82.4%) respondents had good knowledge of hand washing and 18 (17.6%) had poor knowledge.Observations on the practise of hand washing revealed that 43 (42.2%) respondents always practised hand washingfor prevention of nosocomial infection, 35 (34.3%) practised occasionally, while 24 (23.5%) never practiced handwashing. It was concluded that nurses had good knowledge of hand washing but did not practice it. It was thereforerecommended that hospital management should provide hand washing facilities. Also, educational programme suchas workshop/seminars to improve hand washing practice in hospital should be encouraged.
