Hand hygiene knowledge and practices of family caregivers in inpatient pediatrics.
Stephanie ZahradnikAnne K TsampalierosJames Okeny-OwereRichard J WebsterPat BedardGillian SeidmanNisha ThampiPublished in: Infection control and hospital epidemiology (2023)
Family caregivers are essential inpatient pediatric care partners, yet their handwashing knowledge and compliance are rarely studied. Through hand hygiene audits and self-administered questionnaires, we observed 9% compliance, significantly lower than self-reported practice. We suggest interventions to improve caregiver handwashing behaviors to decrease infection transmission risk to hospitalized children.