Comparing the effectiveness of hand hygiene techniques in reducing the microbial load and covering hand surfaces in healthcare workers: Updated systematic review.

• WHO 6-step technique effectively reduces bacterial load on hands. • Effectiveness of hand hygiene techniques in covering all hand surfaces is limited. • Evidence for the most effective and feasible hand hygiene technique is inconclusive. • Substantial heterogeneity exists in the body of ev idence. • Hand hygiene technique studies require standardization. This review, commissioned by the World Health Organization (WHO), examined the effectiveness of the WHO 6-step hand hygiene (HH) technique in reducing microbial load on hands and covering hand surfaces, and compared its effectivenes s to other techniques. Medline, CINAHL, ProQuest, Web of Science, Mednar, and Google Scholar were searched for primary studies, published in English (1978-February 2021), evaluating the microbiological effectiveness or hand surface coverage of HH techniques in healthcare workers. Reviewers independe ntly performed quality assessment using Cochrane tools. The protocol for the narrative review was registered (PROSPERO 2021: CRD42021236138). Nine studies were included. Evidence demonstrated that the WHO technique reduced microbial load on hands. One study found the WHO technique more effective tha n the 3-step technique (P =.02), while another found no difference between these 2 techniques (P =.08). An adapted 3-step technique was more effective than the WHO technique in laboratory settings (P =.021), but not in clinical practice (P =.629). One study demonstrated that an adapted 6-step te...
Source: Current Awareness Service for Health (CASH) - Category: Consumer Health News Source Type: news