How important is hand hygiene?
You can’t move 50 feet in most hospitals these days without being confronted with alcohol gel dispensers and posters instructing you to wash your hands. We are advised to clean our hands between each and every contact with patients. As a busy doctor, this can feel intrusive and time consuming. Most readers will have encountered strong attitudes about the necessity of this rule, and all will have experienced the dry hands of overexposure. Transfer of methicillin resistant S aureus between patients by healthcare workers’ hands is widely considered to be the most important method of transmission. There is quite good evidence for the necessity of handwashing and its efficacy in reducing infections and deaths. A recent study found that medical staff acquired on average 100 colony forming units of bacteria, including S aureus and Gram-negatives in 10% and 15% respectively, after patient contact.w4 An interventional study in London where handwashing protocols were implemented and a low cephal
