Healthy Hands: Use of Alcohol Gel as an Adjunct to Handwashing in Elementary School Children

Morton, Jennifer L.; Schultz, Alyce A.

doi:10.1622/1059-8405(2004)020[0161:hhuoag]2.0.co;2

Cited by 16 publications

(37 citation statements)

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“…In these cases, only the unique intervention for the test group was considered as the tested intervention (e.g., nonantibacterial soap). 12,21,[44][45][46] To be classified as having an educational intervention, the study had to state that education was part of the intervention and that there was some systematic provision of handhygiene education to the intervention group but not to the control group. Educational interventions were largely determined by setting.…”

Section: Selectionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effect of Hand Hygiene on Infectious Disease Risk in the Community Setting: A Meta-Analysis

et al. 2008

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To quantify the effect of hand-hygiene interventions on rates of gastrointestinal and respiratory illnesses and to identify interventions that provide the greatest efficacy, we searched 4 electronic databases for hand-hygiene trials published from January 1960 through May 2007 and conducted meta-analyses to generate pooled rate ratios across interventions (N=30 studies). Improvements in hand hygiene resulted in reductions in gastrointestinal illness of 31% (95% confidence intervals [CI]=19%, 42%) and reductions in respiratory illness of 21% (95% CI=5%, 34%). The most beneficial intervention was hand-hygiene education with use of nonantibacterial soap. Use of antibacterial soap showed little added benefit compared with use of nonantibacterial soap. Hand hygiene is clearly effective against gastrointestinal and, to a lesser extent, respiratory infections. Studies examining hygiene practices during respiratory illness and interventions targeting aerosol transmission are needed.

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Section: Selectionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effect of Hand Hygiene on Infectious Disease Risk in the Community Setting: A Meta-Analysis

et al. 2008

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“…All but one of the intervention studies included a hygiene education component, but, in 7 of these studies, this was only provided in the intervention arm. The level of education varied widely, ranging from basic information on when to use the ABHS (ie, after sneezing and coughing, after use in the restroom, before lunch) to in-depth education programs 214 and biweekly instructional material designed to educate families on hand hygiene and infection transmission. 215 In all studies, ABHS was promoted as a supplement to handwashing, or as an alternative to handwashing when soap was unavailable, and it is likely that the hygiene education would have had the effect of encouraging more frequent handwashing as well as use of ABHS.…”

Section: Intervention Studies Of the Effectiveness Of Handwashing Andmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In these studies of ABHS use, surveillance measures included calculating use from monthly demand, total amount supplied, observation by research assistants, participant report, and reported use by primary caregivers in households. 186,209,212,214,215…”

Section: Intervention Studies Of the Effectiveness Of Handwashing Andmentioning

confidence: 99%

The effectiveness of hand hygiene procedures in reducing the risks of infections in home and community settings including handwashing and alcohol-based hand sanitizers

Bloomfield

Aiello

Cookson

et al. 2007

American Journal of Infection Control

273

200

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Infectious diseases (ID) circulating in the home and community remain a significant concern. Several demographic, environmental, and health care trends, as reviewed in this report, are combining to make it likely that the threat of ID will increase in coming years. Two factors are largely responsible for this trend: first, the constantly changing nature and range of pathogens to which we are exposed and, secondly, the demographic changes occurring in the community, which affect our resistance to infection. This report reviews the evidence base related to the impact of hand hygiene in reducing transmission of ID in the home and community. The report focuses on developed countries, most particularly North America and Europe. It also evaluates the use of alcohol-based hygiene procedures as an alternative to, or in conjunction with, handwashing. The report compiles data from intervention studies and considers it alongside risk modeling approaches (both qualitative and quantitative) based on microbiologic data. The main conclusions are as follows: (1) Hand hygiene is a key component of good hygiene practice in the home and community and can produce significant benefits in terms of reducing the incidence of infection, most particularly gastrointestinal infections but also respiratory tract and skin infections. (2) Decontamination of hands can be carried out either by handwashing with soap or by use of waterless hand sanitizers, which reduce contamination on hands by removal or by killing the organisms in situ. The health impact of hand hygiene within a given community can be increased by using products and procedures, either alone or in sequence, that maximize the log reduction of both bacteria and viruses on hands. (3) The impact of hand hygiene in reducing ID risks could be increased by convincing people to apply hand hygiene procedures correctly (eg, wash their hands correctly) and at the correct time. (4) To optimize health benefits, promotion of hand hygiene should be accompanied by hygiene education and should also involve promotion of other aspects of hygiene.

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“…The reference lists of all relevant articles were reviewed for additional studies. A letter was sent to all corresponding authors of the articles identified by hand-search, excluding two newly eligible citations posted between May 2003 and September 2004 [15,16], or by searching bibliographic databases. Additionally, contact experts and the industrial companies that manufactured the antimicrobial hand gels used in the included trials (GOJO Industries and Woodward Laboratories, Inc.) were contacted in attempts to identify other eligible trials.…”

Section: Search Strategymentioning

confidence: 99%

A systematic review of the effectiveness of antimicrobial rinse-free hand sanitizers for prevention of illness-related absenteeism in elementary school children

Meadows

Saux

2004

BMC Public Health

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BackgroundAbsenteeism due to communicable illness is a major problem encountered by North American elementary school children. Although handwashing is a proven infection control measure, barriers exist in the school environment, which hinder compliance to this routine. Currently, alternative hand hygiene techniques are being considered, and one such technique is the use of antimicrobial rinse-free hand sanitizers.MethodsA systematic review was conducted to examine the effectiveness of antimicrobial rinse-free hand sanitizer interventions in the elementary school setting. MEDLINE, EMBASE, Biological Abstract, CINAHL, HealthSTAR and Cochrane Controlled Trials Register were searched for both randomized and non-randomized controlled trials. Absenteeism due to communicable illness was the primary outcome variable.ResultsSix eligible studies, two of which were randomized, were identified (5 published studies, 1 published abstract). The quality of reporting was low. Due to a large amount of heterogeneity and low quality of reporting, no pooled estimates were calculated. There was a significant difference reported in favor of the intervention in all 5 published studies.ConclusionsThe available evidence for the effectiveness of antimicrobial rinse-free hand sanitizer in the school environment is of low quality. The results suggest that the strength of the benefit should be interpreted with caution. Given the potential to reduce student absenteeism, teacher absenteeism, school operating costs, healthcare costs and parental absenteeism, a well-designed and analyzed trial is needed to optimize this hand hygiene technique.

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Healthy Hands: Use of Alcohol Gel as an Adjunct to Handwashing in Elementary School Children

Cited by 16 publications

References 0 publications

Effect of Hand Hygiene on Infectious Disease Risk in the Community Setting: A Meta-Analysis

Effect of Hand Hygiene on Infectious Disease Risk in the Community Setting: A Meta-Analysis

The effectiveness of hand hygiene procedures in reducing the risks of infections in home and community settings including handwashing and alcohol-based hand sanitizers

A systematic review of the effectiveness of antimicrobial rinse-free hand sanitizers for prevention of illness-related absenteeism in elementary school children

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