COMPARISON OF EFFICACY OF THREE DIFFERENT METHODS OF HAND DRYING IN HAND HYGIENE- A RANDOMISED CONTROL TRIAL
Abstract
Objective -To compare the efficacy of 3
different methods of hand drying in hand
hygiene. Efficacy is defined as quantitative
reduction in bacterial growth following
hand drying.Subjects and Methods -
25 Health care personnel comprising of
doctors and nurses participated in this
Single blinded Randomized Prospective
study in a tertiary care newborn unit. After
2 minute hand washing using ordinary
soap,personnel were randomly allocated
to 3 different methodologies of hand drying(
air drying till hands were felt to be
dry, air drying for 3 minutes and drying
using autoclaved newspaper). After 24
hours incubation bacterial colony counts
from wet and dry hands were determined
in both Nutrient agar and Mac Conkeys
medium.The mean difference between
the bacterial colony count on wet hands
and after drying were analyzed using a
nonparametric analysis.Results- In Mac-
Conkeys medium the mean reduction in
bacterial colony count in air drying for 3
minutes was more (55.8)
, followed by air drying till hands were felt
to be dry(30.2) and less in autoclaved
newspaper method (9.8).This difference
was statistically significant(p0.03) . Conclusion-
Air drying for 3 minutes is more efficient
in reducing bacterial colony count
than the other methodologies used in this
study.
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