One plunge or two?—hand disinfection with alcohol gel

Objective. To compare health care workers’ hand surface coverage using two different volumes of alcohol gel for hand disinfection. Participants and methods. A total of 84 members of staff in our hospital were studied. Subjects were asked to disinfect their hands with alcohol gel containing a clear f...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:International journal for quality in health care 2006-04, Vol.18 (2), p.120-122
Main Authors: Macdonald, Duncan J. M., Mckillop, Elisabeth C. A., Trotter, Sylvia, Gray, Alastair J. R.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Alcohols - administration & dosage
Alcohols - pharmacology
Anti-Infective Agents, Local - administration & dosage
Anti-Infective Agents, Local - pharmacology
Cross Infection - prevention & control
Disinfection - methods
Disinfection - utilization
Female
Gels
Hand - microbiology
Hand Disinfection - methods
hand washing
hospital infection
Hospitals, General - standards
Humans
infection control
Infection Control - methods
Infectious Disease Transmission, Professional-to-Patient - prevention & control
Male
Middle Aged
Personnel, Hospital - standards
Personnel, Hospital - statistics & numerical data
Review Article
Scotland
Staphylococcus aureus
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Summary:Objective. To compare health care workers’ hand surface coverage using two different volumes of alcohol gel for hand disinfection. Participants and methods. A total of 84 members of staff in our hospital were studied. Subjects were asked to disinfect their hands with alcohol gel containing a clear fluorescent substance. Performance was assessed by using UV light to identify areas which had been missed, and the total surface area missed was calculated. A total of 42 subjects received 3.5 ml of alcohol gel, and 42 age-, sex-, and job-matched subjects received 1.75 ml of alcohol gel. Results. Significantly less area was missed when hand disinfecting with double the volume of alcohol gel; 1.23 versus 6.35% surface area was missed (P < 0.001). Conclusion. Doubling the volume of alcohol gel used for hand disinfection significantly improves the efficiency of coverage of the hands with alcohol gel. This may result in lower bacterial count on the hands and may reduce the spread of nosocomial infections including that of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus.
ISSN:1353-4505
1464-3677
DOI:10.1093/intqhc/mzi109