Reducing hand recontamination of healthcare workers during COVID-19

Abstract

Worldwide, the response to the COVID-19 pandemic requires hand hygiene compliance by everyone, as highlighted in the WHO #SafeHands campaign and numerous documents. Hand hygiene is particularly critical for frontline healthcare workers (HCWs) who are overstretched and for whom this key routine task must be easy to complete and effective. However, a neglected aspect of hand hygiene, even in the absence of a global pandemic, is the risk of touching surfaces or objects that could recontaminate hands after hand rubbing or washing, whether gloves are worn or not. Infection prevention is key during this pandemic, and reducing hand recontamination is important to ensuring patient and HCW safety at all times.

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http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

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Identifiers

DOI

https://doi.org/10.1017/ice.2020.111

Repository URI

http://researchrepository.napier.ac.uk/Output/2663338