of drying the hands was 23 s, hence longer than the duration of the hand rub. To shorten the standardized technique of hand rubbing from 6 to 5 or 4 steps and decreasing the number of repetitions from 5 to 3 times per step had only small effects, but with the 4-step sequence the bacterial reduction was less pronounced such that this procedure cannot be considered equivalent to the standard. Con...

UNLABELLED BACKGROUND Current knowledge suggests that, by applying evidence-based measures relating to the correct use of prophylactic antibiotics, perioperative normothermia, urinary tract catheterization and hand hygiene, important contributions can be made to reducing the risk of postoperative infections and device-related infections. The aim of this study was to explore and describe the ...

A large proportion of hospital-related infections are acquired and spread due to the direct contacts between patients and healthcare workers. Accordingly, proper infection prevention measures, and especially hand hygiene, are key to limit the spread of infections in nosocomial settings. However, healthcare workers frequently experience difficulties in complying strictly to hand disinfection pro...

All invasive procedures involve contact by a medical device or surgical instrument with a patient's sterile tissue or mucous membranes. The level of disinfection or sterilization is dependent on the intended use of the object: critical (items that contact sterile tissue such as surgical instruments), semicritical (items that contact mucous membrane such as endoscopes), and noncritical (devices ...

The need for skin disinfection before insertion of an acupuncture needle is controversial and there is no specific research on this topic. However research and observations on the effect of, and the need for, skin disinfection before injections forms a good analogy of acupuncture. Whilst micro-organisms present on the surface of the skin are accessible to disinfection, those located under the s...

Dermatitis of hands is a problem among nurses. The aim of this prospective questionnaire based survey was to analyze practice and knowledge of skin care of medical and surgical nurses. 250 questionnaires were distributed. 49% of respondent stated that they perform skin care at least 1-2 times/day. After hand-wash 15% of participants perform skin protection, after hand-disinfection only 2%. 40% ...