UNLABELLED The standardized training of practical competences in skills labs is relatively new among German Medical Faculties. The broad acceptance and outstanding evaluation results do not provide objective data on the efficiency and cost-efficiency of these trainings. This study aims on the quantification of the teaching effect of the surgical scrubbing technique EN1500 and its comparison wit...

Background. Adherence to hygiene guidelines is of utmost importance for healthcare professionals. The aim of this study was to evaluate the knowledge on and the adherence to hygiene guidelines among medical students in Austria. Additionally, a possible difference between female and male students was investigated. Methods. An open paper-based survey among third-year medical students at the Medic...

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...

BACKGROUND Recent data indicate that full efficacy of a hand rub preparation for hygienic hand disinfection can be achieved within 15 seconds (s). However, the efficacy test used for the European Norm (EN) 1500 samples only the fingertips. Therefore, we investigated hand coverage using sixteen different application variations. The hand rub was supplemented with a fluorescent dye, and hands were...

Non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPI) such as facemasks and intensified hand hygiene may be effective in preventing influenza infections in households. It may be equally important that household members, especially children, can learn to use, maintain and tolerate these measures. We monitored adherence and tolerability of these NPI within a cluster-randomized trial in households with influenza...

A standardized protocol for the evaluation of hand disinfection by surgical scrub formulations was applied to volunteers in a multicenter trial. Povidone iodine (PVI), chlorhexidine (CHX), and a nonmedicated soap (NMS) were tested. The scrubbing procedure involved three daily hand washings for five consecutive days; surviving bacteria were counted daily after being collected in a suitable neutr...

BACKGROUND Despite the increasing use of Alcohol-Based Hand Rub solutions, few studies have quantified the concentrations of inhaled ethanol. OBJECTIVE The aim of this study was to assess ethanol exposure during hygienic and surgical hand disinfection practices. METHOD Ethanol concentrations were measured at the nose level of a wooden dummy and human volunteers. Two systems were used in par...

BACKGROUND Hand hygiene is a major means for preventing healthcare-associated infections. One critical point in understanding poor compliance is the lack of relevant markers used to monitor practices systematically. METHODS This study analysed hand hygiene compliance and associated factors with a radio-frequency-identification-based real-time continuous automated monitoring system in an infec...