Fifteenth International Conference on Health, Wellness & Society

Abstract

Hand hygiene is a critical strategy for preventing healthcare-associated infections, adherence remains low, particularly among auxiliary nurses and informal caregivers who often lack formal training, technologies like virtual reality (VR) have shown promise for improving hand hygiene skills through active learning and real-time feedback. This quasi-experimental, one-group pretest-posttest study evaluated the effectiveness of a VR hand hygiene training program for auxiliary nurses and informal caregivers in Colombia. A total of 215 participants (94 auxiliary nurses, 121 informal caregivers) completed the intervention, which included three 15-minute VR training sessions with real-time feedback on hand hygiene technique. Data were collected at baseline (PRE) and immediately after the VR intervention (POST), which included three 15-minute training sessions. Variables assessed included hand hygiene performance, error rates, and knowledge assessment. Linear mixed-effects models were used to assess changes over time. Correct hand hygiene performance increased from 26.6% to 97.9% among auxiliary nurses (p < 0.001) and from 9.9% to 95.9% among informal caregivers (p < 0.001). Knowledge scores also improved significantly in both groups, and most participants rated the VR training as ‘very useful’ or ‘extremely useful’ for skill acquisition. VR training significantly improved hand hygiene technique and knowledge among auxiliary nurses and informal caregivers. The high acceptance rates observed suggest that these technologies can effectively enhance infection prevention skills in undertrained populations, supporting broader adoption in healthcare education.