BACKGROUND The WHO regards hand hygiene as an essential tool for the prevention of nosocomial infection, but compliance in clinical practice is often low. METHODS The relevant scientific literature and national and international evidence-based recommendations (Robert Koch Institute [Germany], WHO) were evaluated. RESULTS Hygienic hand disinfection has better antimicrobial efficacy than hand...

In recent years and decades increasingly more emphasis has been placed on alcohol-based solutions for hygienic and surgical hand disinfection. Traditional handwashing with soap and water has been largely replaced in the everyday clinical setting, as has the use of disinfectant soap-based solutions for surgical hand disinfection. It has been possible in recent years to reduce the exposure time f...

Introduction / objectives The importance of hand disinfection has been known since Semmelweis, however, fundamental problems remain existent with hand hygiene. Our team of young engineers created a universal method to teach and verify proper hand disinfection. We target both the health care system and the general public, to educate and control through visualizing, demonstrating and measuring. M...

With the new Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guideline on hand hygiene, hospitals often introduce alcohol-based hand rubs for hand disinfection. Healthcare workers, however, may reject the new products because of skin irritation or other skin-related problems, which they experience after years of handwashing. In order to facilitate a successful introduction and continued use of...

BACKGROUND Aim of the study was to determine the efficacy of two distinct ethanol-based hand rubs for surgical hand disinfection in a controlled cross-over trial according to prEN 12791. METHODS 20 subjects were included. Hands were washed for 1 min with soap. The bacterial prevalue was obtained by rubbing finger tips in TSB for 1 min. Then, each subject treated the hands with the reference p...

The recently published guideline for the use of alcohol hand antisepsis states that "If hands are not visibly soiled, use an alcohol-based hand rub for routinely decontaminating hands (IA). Alternatively, wash hands with an antimicrobial soap . . . (IB)." Systematic disinfection before entering and leaving a patient's room complies with this guideline and, as recommended, might be a good educat...

OBJECTIVE The aim of this study was 2-fold. The first aim was to evaluate the effects of mixing technique (hand-mixing or auto-mixing) on bacterial attachment to polyether impression materials. The second aim was to determine whether bacterial attachment to these materials was affected by length of exposure to disinfection solutions. MATERIALS AND METHODS Polyether impression material samples...

Last year marked the 150th anniversary of the publication of Ignaz Semmelweis’ landmark monograph on hand hygiene – at the time hand disinfection with chlorinated lime solution – as a means to prevent nosocomial infections [1]. All the necessary scientific evidence that improved hand hygiene practices in healthcare indeed reduce healthcare-associated infections and patient-to-patient transmissi...

A standardised test procedure is described in which finger-tips are inoculated with broth cultures of organisms (Staphylococcus aureus, Staphyloccocus saprophyticus, Escherichia coli, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa): counts are made from washings of hands after disinfection with various antiseptic-detergents, alcoholic solutions, or unmedicated soap. 70% alcohol, with or without chlorhexidine, was ...