Abstract
Hand hygiene is imperative in preventing the spread of microorganisms between healthcare workers and patients that can predispose them to nosocomial infections. Hands of healthcare workers are potential reservoirs for microbial pathogens when proper hand hygiene methods are not executed. Compliance with hand hygiene is often poor, with studies reporting rates as low as 20%- 30%. In a typical homeopathic practice setting, student hand-patient skin contact occurs regularly, and this increases the probability of microorganism exchange and/or infection spread between the interaction and surroundings. To date, no study has been conducted in the Homeopathy Health Centre (HHC) to assess hand hygiene. The aim of this study was to assess hand hygiene practices of homeopathy students and patients at the University of Johannesburg (UJ) HHC. This was done by investigating the presence of transient pathogenic microorganisms on hands of participants using flow cytometry, total heterotrophs with pour plate technique/ SimPlates, and Escherichia coli (E. coli) using IDEXX Colilert®-18 Quanti-Trays™. A World Health Organization (WHO) Hand Hygiene Survey was also used to determine the knowledge, attitudes and practices of homeopathy students andpatients...
M.Tech. (Homoeopathy)