title: Clinical effectiveness of alcohol-based products in increasing hand hygiene compliance and reducing infection rates: a systematic review.
abstract: Reducing the incidence of healthcare-associated infection represents a major challenge. This systematic review of the evidence base considers the clinical effectiveness of incorporating an alcohol-based hand hygiene product into procedures aimed at improving compliance with hand hygiene guidelines, and thereby reducing the incidence of healthcare-associated infections. Multi-component interventions that included alcohol-based products were as effective as those that did not, both in achieving sustained hand hygiene compliance and in reducing infection rates. However, a number of difficulties were encountered in assessing hand hygiene studies: the problem of attributing efficacy to an alcohol-based product when used in a multi-component intervention; the variability inherent in the design of such studies; and how to use data from uncontrolled, unblinded studies in the assessment.
authors.affiliation: NHS Quality Improvement Scotland, Glasgow, UK.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Stout
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ritchie
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Macpherson
mesh_terms: D000438:Alcohols / Q000494:pharmacology*; D003428:Cross Infection / Q000517:prevention & control*; D004202:Disinfectants / Q000494:pharmacology*; D006235:Hand Disinfection / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans
chemical_list: D000438:Alcohols; D004202:Disinfectants