Effects of Disinfection According to Durations of Surgical Hand Scrub and Type of Disinfectant

Park, Jong Nam; Lee, Mi Aie

Abstract

PURPOSE: This study was done to identify the differences in effectiveness of disinfections for surgical hand scrubbing according to the duration of scrubbing and the type of disinfectant. METHOD: From June 30 to August 14, 2003, the data were collected from 30 surgical nurses and surgeons in one general hospital in P city, Korea. All participants washed their hands with two different disinfectants and four different scrubbing times, they placed both finger tips on a blood agar plate and using sterile cotton tips microbes were collected from their palms, nails and forearms.
RESULTS
The first hypothesis of this study(with same disinfectant, there will be no difference in effect of disinfection in surgical hand scrub among four time groups) was supported. The second hypothesis of this study(with same duration of surgical hand scrub, there will be no difference in effect between two disinfectants) was also supported.
CONCLUSION
There are no differences in effectiveness of disinfection for surgical hand scrubbing according to duration of the scrubbing and the type of disinfectant. So it is concluded that the effectiveness of disinfection depends more on the exactly how the scrubbing is done rather than the duration of scrubbing or the type of disinfectant.