The comparison of skin complications of alcohol-based hand rub with antiseptic soap and plain soap on hands of nursing personnels

Nosocomical infections are of the problems of all societies and the most common way for its transference is contaminated hands. According to the recommendations of W.H.O. on using alcohol-base formulation for hand hygiene and it got used to some hospital sections for some time, this study was done with the aim of comparing skin complications of alcohol-based hand rub with antiseptic and plain soap on hands of nursing personnel. This study is a randomized, three-group, clinical trial. 128 nursing personnel including nurses and nurse assistances selected randomly by classified sampling, has been studied. Three hand hygiene products were tested: alcohol-based hand rub, antiseptic soap and plain soap. Each product was used for a week after teaching hand hygiene based on W.H.O. standards. Finally self assessment tool was completed by nurses and during the week skin condition was monitored by researcher assistance. Kruskal Wallis, Man-Whitney and Chi- Square, were used for analyzing data by SPSS software, version 14.5. Kruskal Wallis test was used for assessment of skin complications in groups with four dimensions: appearance, intactness, moisture content and sensation. Among three groups, the alcohol-based hand rub in comparison with plain soap showed less skin complications in intactness (p=0.04). Regarding this fact that one of the most important ways of transferring nosocomical infections is personnel's hands, as the alcohol-based hand rub has less skin complications in intactness and less cost in comparison with soap and regarding its easy application even without water, it is recommended to use it instead of soap for hands as an antiseptic.