According to a study conducted by the community medicine department of the ESIC Medical College and PGIMSR and published in the open-access science journal Heliyon, doctors and nurses in government hospitals were found to be washing their hands only 20% of the time, even during the pandemic. Moreover, the findings of the study showed that they only followed all of the necessary hand hygiene routines one out of every 10 times.

The findings of the study titled "Compliance with hand hygiene practices and their appropriateness among healthcare workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in public health facilities in Tamil Nadu, India," showed that in comparison to doctors or others, nurses were more likely to wash their hands and take necessary precautions.At least 24% of nurses cleaned their hands correctly, compared to 23% of other healthcare professionals and 10% of doctors. Nearly 42% of nurses washed their hands, compared to 31% of doctors and 22% of allied health workers. Hand hygiene practices among healthcare workers play a vital role in patient safety.

The author of the study, Dr. Yuvaraj Krishnamoorthy, Department of Community Medicine at ESIC Medical College, noted that the study included doctors, nurses, laboratory technicians, and pharmacists in 18 public healthcare facilities spanning six districts.

He explained that out of 2,733 hand hygiene observations, appropriate hand hygiene protocols were followed only in 37.9% of these observations. The studys findings also showed that when exposed to bodily fluids, nearly three-fourths of health professionals cleaned their hands, and more than half of them did so when performing aseptic operations. Additionally, when compared to outpatient wards or procedure rooms, compliance was higher in in-patient units.

According to the World Health Organization, healthcare personnel are obliged to wash their hands before handling a patient, before aseptic procedures, during bodily fluid exposure or risk procedures, after touching a patient, and after touching a patients surroundings. 

(Source: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/doctors-worse-than-nurses-at-hand-hygiene-says-study/articleshow/99879427.cms )