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Pick your favorite hand-drying technique

Staff Development Weekly: Insight on Evidence-Based Practice in Education, December 1, 2006

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Longstanding guidelines for handwashing procedures have significantly reduced the spread of nosocomial infections to patients. Hand-drying techniques, however, show little difference when compared with one another in controlling hospital infection according to a study published in the July 2000 Mayo Clinic Proceedings.

The study of 99 adults concluded that the following different drying methods offered similar success in removing bacteria from the hands:

1. Cloth towels on a rotary dispenser
2. Paper towels from a stack near the sink
3. Warm heat from a hand-activated wall dryer
4. Simply letting hands dry in the air

The analysis appears to show that "no significant difference in bacterial reduction occurs among any of these hand-drying methods."

Editor's note: The above excerpt is from the online course, "Hand Hygiene for Health Care Staff: Practical Steps to Protect Patients and Contain Infections." For more information on this and other courses in our library, go to http://www.hcprofessor.com/.

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