A Study on Hand-hygiene Education Aiming to Improve Effectiveness and Compliance for Hand-washing

In order to improve effectiveness and compliance for hand-washing, the staff of Kizawa Memorial Hospital were invited to take part in a survey and course of instruction on hand-hygiene. Two hundred-ninety-seven persons participated. The survey assessed practice of hand-hygiene, previous experience of hand-hygiene education, and presence of dermatitis symptoms (rough skin) through a questionnaire. Then instruction in the proper hand-washing procedure was given in accordance with recommended guidelines. In order to evaluate the effectiveness of washing before instruction, a fluorescent dye containing hand cream was applied to the hands and after washing, the number of residual fluorescent dye spots was counted. This was repeated after instruction in the hand-washing procedure. Poor hand-washing compliance was associated with a lack of instruction in this regard. The number of residual dye spots decreased significantly after instruction (p<0.0001). While there was no difference in the number of dye spots between staff who had rough skin and those who did not before instruction, afterwards, people with no roughness on their hands had less spots than those who had roughness (p<0.0261). This seems to suggest that rough skin on the hands reduces the effectiveness of hand-washing. This study demonstrated that hand-washing education is important for achieving compliance in washing the hands. All hospital staff should be provided with such education. Also, efforts should be made to prevent rough skin on the hands since it may reduce the effectiveness of hand-washing.