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Revisiting the WHO “How to Handrub” Hand Hygiene Technique: Fingertips First?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 November 2016

Daniela Pires ,
Fernando Bellissimo-Rodrigues ,
Hervé Soule ,
Angèle Gayet-Ageron  and
Didier Pittet
Daniela Pires
Affiliation:
Infection Control Programme and WHO Collaborating Centre on Patient Safety—Infection Control & Improving Practices, University of Geneva Hospitals and Faculty of Medicine, Geneva, Switzerland Department of Infectious Diseases, Centro Hospitalar Lisboa Norte and Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal
Fernando Bellissimo-Rodrigues
Affiliation:
Social Medicine Department, Ribeirão Preto Medical School, University of São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto, São Paulo, Brazil.
Hervé Soule
Affiliation:
Infection Control Programme and WHO Collaborating Centre on Patient Safety—Infection Control & Improving Practices, University of Geneva Hospitals and Faculty of Medicine, Geneva, Switzerland
Angèle Gayet-Ageron
Affiliation:
Infection Control Programme and WHO Collaborating Centre on Patient Safety—Infection Control & Improving Practices, University of Geneva Hospitals and Faculty of Medicine, Geneva, Switzerland
Didier Pittet*
Affiliation:
Infection Control Programme and WHO Collaborating Centre on Patient Safety—Infection Control & Improving Practices, University of Geneva Hospitals and Faculty of Medicine, Geneva, Switzerland
*
Address correspondence to Professor Didier Pittet, Infection Control Programme and WHO Collaborating Centre on Patient Safety, University of Geneva Hospitals and Faculty of Medicine, 4 Rue Gabrielle-Perret-Gentil, 1211, Geneva, Switzerland (didier.pittet@hcuge.ch).
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Abstract

Hands are implicated in the cross transmission of microbial pathogens and fingertips are the crux of the problem. A modified World Health Organization “How to Handrub” 6-step technique with “Fingertips First” showed greater efficacy than the standard technique in reducing fingertip contamination, potentially improving hand hygiene action quality.

Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol 2017;38:230–233

Type
Concise Communications
Information
Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology , Volume 38 , Issue 2 , February 2017 , pp. 230 - 233
Copyright
© 2016 by The Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America. All rights reserved 

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Footnotes

PREVIOUS PRESENTATION. Preliminary data were presented at the 26th European Congress of Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (ECCMID) in Amsterdam, Netherlands, on April 12, 2016. EP 0021.

a

a Authors with equal contribution.

References

REFERENCES

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