-
- Günter Kampf, Harald Löffler, and Petra Gastmeier.
- Bode Chemie GmbH, Hamburg.
- Dtsch Arztebl Int. 2009 Oct 1; 106 (40): 649655649-55.
BackgroundThe WHO regards hand hygiene as an essential tool for the prevention of nosocomial infection, but compliance in clinical practice is often low.MethodsThe relevant scientific literature and national and international evidence-based recommendations (Robert Koch Institute [Germany], WHO) were evaluated.ResultsHygienic hand disinfection has better antimicrobial efficacy than hand-washing and is the procedure of choice to be performed before and after manual contact with patients. The hands should be washed, rather than disinfected, only when they are visibly soiled. Skin irritation is quite common among healthcare workers and is mainly caused by water, soap, and prolonged wearing of gloves. Compliance can be improved by training, by placing hand-rub dispensers at the sites where they are needed, and by physicians setting a good example for others.ConclusionsImproved compliance in hand hygiene, with proper use of alcohol-based hand rubs, can reduce the nosocomial infection rate by as much as 40%.
Notes
Knowledge, pearl, summary or comment to share?You can also include formatting, links, images and footnotes in your notes
- Simple formatting can be added to notes, such as
*italics*,_underline_or**bold**. - Superscript can be denoted by
<sup>text</sup>and subscript<sub>text</sub>. - Numbered or bulleted lists can be created using either numbered lines
1. 2. 3., hyphens-or asterisks*. - Links can be included with:
[my link to pubmed](http://pubmed.com) - Images can be included with:
 - For footnotes use
[^1](This is a footnote.)inline. - Or use an inline reference
[^1]to refer to a longer footnote elseweher in the document[^1]: This is a long footnote..