A recent study of two techniques for hand hygiene using an alcohol-based handrub found that the six-step method by the World Health Organization (WHO) is superior to the three-step method by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
The study was conducted at an acute care teaching hospital in Glasgow, United Kingdom. The study included 42 doctors and 78 nurses.
Perioperative RNs should consider using the WHO process, says Amber Wood, MSN, RN, CNOR, CIC, senior perioperative practice specialist at the Association of periOperative Registered Nurses. “This randomized controlled trial is the first study to compare the two methods, showing that the WHO process is more effective at reducing bacterial counts on the hands,” Wood wrote in a statement for Same-Day Surgery. “Reduction in bacteria on the hands could equate to reducing the risk of the patient developing a surgical site infection.”
Why the WHO method was more effective in the study isn’t certain. “There is a possibility that the six-step WHO method is more effective due to longer application times (42.5 vs 35 seconds), and the researchers discussed that compliance with all six steps (65%) is lower than for the CDC method (100%), both of which should be taken into consideration if making a practice change,” Wood wrote.
The results were published by Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology. (To read the abstract, go to http://bit.ly/1SHCJxN.)
