A study published in the August issue of the American Journal of Infection Control, the official publication of the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology, correlates increased hand hygiene knowledge with a decreased risk of transmitting infection among healthcare workers, according to an APIC news release.
The study, conducted by Anne McLaughlin, PhD, assistant professor of psychology at North Carolina State University, had 71 nurses, infection preventionists and hospital environmental services managers participate in a national survey gauging hand hygiene knowledge and beliefs.
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The survey results showed healthcare workers perceive surfaces as safer to touch than patient skin, in spite of research that has proven touching one contaminated surface can spread bacteria to up to the next seven surfaces touched.
Read the news release about the new healthcare hand hygiene study from APIC (pdf).
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