title: Surgical hand rubbing compared with surgical hand scrubbing: comparison of efficacy and costs.
abstract: The aim of this study was to compare the efficacy of surgical hand rubbing (SHR) with the efficacy of surgical hand scrubbing (SHS), and to determine the costs of both techniques for surgical hand disinfection. A review of studies reported in the literature that compared the efficacy of SHS and SHR was performed using MEDLINE. The costs of SHR and SHS were estimated based on standard hospital costs. The literature showed that SHR had immediate efficacy that was similar to that of SHS, but SHR had a more lasting effect. SHR reduced costs by 67%. In conclusion, SHR is a cost-effective alternative to SHS.
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, Rouen University Hospital, France. Marie-Pierre.Tavolacci@chu-rouen.fr
authors.forename: M P
authors.initials: MP
authors.lastname: Tavolacci
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Pitrou
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Merle
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Haghighat
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Thillard
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Czernichow
mesh_terms: D004203:Disinfection / Q000191:economics*; D006235:Hand Disinfection / Q000379:methods*; D017721:Hospital Costs / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D017053:Infection Control / Q000191:economics / Q000379:methods*