RESUMO
INTRODUCTION: Healthcare-associated infections are a common consequence of unsafe health care practices and are a major issue for patient safety. Health care workers play a key role in patient safety and the quality of care, with factors such as poor compliance with hygiene standards and poor knowledge of infection risks having a major impact. However, the role of health care workers in patient safety has been overlooked in the literature. The objectives of this study were i) to examine health care workers' awareness of infection risks and ii) to assess levels of hand hygiene compliance and barriers to patient safety. METHODS: A one-day cross-sectional survey was conducted in June 2011 at the Ziniaré health district hospital. The study focused on the health care workers present on the day of the survey in hospital care units and involved interviews and observations. RESULTS: The study found that 30.04% of the health care workers knew the definition of healthcare-associated infections. Only 44.4% of the health care workers reported that the hands of health care workers (in the event of poor hand hygiene compliance) were the main mode of transmission of germs between patients in a care facility. In addition, only 21.43% (12/56) of the participants were aware of the main factors that increase the risk of health care-associated infections. The level of compliance with hygiene protocols was low (36.85%). CONCLUSION: The promotion of patient safety and quality of care requires a focus on training and behavior change among health care workers.