Survey of Pharmacists Concerning Hand Hygiene and Effectiveness of Study Meeting in Raising Awareness of It

The need for pharmacists to practice hand hygiene is increasing but few surveys have been conducted on this subject.In order to understand the situation of hand hygiene better,we conducted a questionnaire survey of pharmacists at Iizuka hospital and held a study meeting on it.A short written test on hand hygiene was given before the meeting and after it to gauge its effectiveness.The questionnaire survey found that pharmacists were aware that they needed to have an adequate knowledge of hand hygiene and that there were situations in which they had to practice it.In the written test given before the study meeting,judging by the number of wrong answers concerning hand hygiene procedures,pharmacists did not seem to wash their hands thoroughly.In the test given after the seminar,there was a significant increase in the number of correct answers showing that it had been effective.