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Hand hygiene among laboratory workers

Emine Alp1, Diana Haverkate, Andreas Voss

  • 1Department of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Disease, Faculty of Medicine, Erciyes University, Kayseri, Turkey.

Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology
|August 31, 2006
PubMed

We performed a study to measure the compliance of laboratory personnel with different components of hand hygiene. The level of compliance at the end of duty was 100%; however, 36.7% of subjects wore a ring, 46.9% wore a watch, and 6.1% wore a bracelet. Pathogenic microorganisms were exclusively found on hands of laboratory personnel who wore jewelry. After interventions, the level of compliance with the no-jewelry policy among laboratory personnel showed sustained improvement. Efforts to improve hand hygiene should be directed not only at healthcare workers but also at laboratory personnel.

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