• Mette Fagernes and Egil Lingaas.
• Institute of Nursing and Health Sciences, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway. mette.fagernes@siv.no
• Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol. 2009 May 1;30(5):427-32.

ObjectiveTo investigate the impact of finger rings on the transmission of bacteria from the hands of healthcare workers and the impact on the microflora on the hands of healthcare workers in clinical practice.DesignOur study had a nonequivalent control group posttest-only design (pre-experimental). Healthcare workers who wore finger ring(s) on 1 hand and no ring on the other hand (n = 100) and a control group of healthcare workers who did not wear any rings (n = 100) exchanged standardized hand shakes with an investigator wearing sterile gloves. Samples from the gloved hands of the investigators and the bare hands of the healthcare workers were thereafter obtained by the glove juice technique.SettingTwo Norwegian acute care hospitals.ParticipantsHealthcare workers (n = 200) during ordinary clinical work.ResultsA significantly higher bacterial load (odds ratio, 2.63 [95% confidence interval, 1.28-5.43]; P = .009) and a significantly higher number of bacteria transmitted (parameter estimates, [corrected] 2.43 [95% confidence interval, 1.44-4.13]; P = .001) were associated with ringed hands, compared with control hands. However, a multiple analysis of covariance revealed no statistically significant effect of rings alone. The prevalence of nonfermentative gram-negative bacteria (42% vs 26%) and Enterobacteriaceae (26% vs 13%) was also significantly higher among persons who wore rings than among persons who did not wear rings. However, no statistically significant differences in the incidence of transmission of these pathogens were detected after hand contact. The prevalence of Staphylococcus aureus and incidence of transmission of S. aureus were the same in both groups.ConclusionsWearing finger rings increases the carriage rate of nonfermentative gram-negative bacteria and Enterobacteriaceae on the hands of healthcare workers. However, no statistically significant differences in the incidence of transmission of nonfermentative gram-negative bacteria or Enterobacteriaceae were detected between the healthcare workers who wore rings and those who did not.

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