title: [Hand hygiene--is hand disinfection the best solution?].
abstract: Nosocomial infections have been recognized as a critical problem in modern medicine and are associated with the quality of health care provided in hospitals. On average, 7-10% of hospitalized patients acquire an infection after hospital admission. A substantial proportion of these result from cross-contamination. Transmission of microorganisms by the hands of health care workers is the main cause for spreading. Prevention of bacterial contamination and infection to the patients requires good hand washing or disinfection, and a series of guidelines have been proposed. However, health care workers show poor compliance with such rules. At a time when costs for patient care are increasing and hospitals are threatened by bacterial resistance, prevention of nosocomial infections is an important issue. Thus, many international publications at present discuss the general problems of hand hygiene, still is the most cost effective method in prevention of nosocomial infections. Factors that contribute to poor compliance in hand hygiene have been targeted, and practical solutions in order to improve hand cleansing practices have been suggested. Increased use of the quicker methods of hand disinfection instead of hand washing is one of them.
authors.affiliation: Seksjon for sykehushygiene, Baerum sykehus.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bucher
mesh_terms: D003362:Cost-Benefit Analysis; D003428:Cross Infection / Q000382:microbiology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D018562:Disease Transmission, Infectious; D004203:Disinfection; D006235:Hand Disinfection; D006801:Humans; D017053:Infection Control / Q000191:economics; D009664:Norway; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic