Hand hygiene

June Young Chun; Hong Bin Kim

doi:10.5124/jkma.2018.61.1.13

J Korean Med Assoc > Volume 61(1); 2018 > Article

Chun and Kim: Hand hygiene

Focused Issue of this Month

Healthcare-associated infection control

Journal of the Korean Medical Association 2018; 61(1): 13-20.

Published online: January 17, 2018

DOI: https://doi.org/10.5124/jkma.2018.61.1.13

Hand hygiene

June Young Chun, MD

, Hong Bin Kim, MD

Department of Internal Medicine, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.

Corresponding author: Hong Bin Kim. hbkimmd@snu.ac.kr

Received November 09, 2017 Accepted November 23, 2017

Korean Medical Association

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract

Healthcare-associated infections are a major concern in relation to patient safety. Of the numerous interventions for infection control, hand hygiene is the main factor that reduces the transmission of nosocomial pathogens. In this review, we cover the history of hand hygiene, evidence supporting its efficacy, and its importance. Then, we briefly introduce the 2017 hand hygiene guidelines of the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Key words: Hand hygiene; Healthcare-associated infections; Infection control

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Figure 1

Five moments for hand hygiene. Reproduced from Sax H, et al. J Hosp Infect 2007;67:9–21, with permission from Elsevier [36].

Figure 2

How to handwash. Reproduced from World Health Organization. WHO guidelines on hand hygiene in health care [Internet]. Geneva: World Health Organization; 2009 [1].

Figure 3

How to handrub. Reproduced from World Health Organization. WHO guidelines on hand hygiene in health care [Internet]. Geneva: World Health Organization; 2009 [1].

Table 1

Antimicrobial activity of antiseptics used in hand hygiene

Reproduced from World Health Organization. WHO guidelines on hand hygiene in health care [Internet]. Geneva: World Health Organization; 2009 [1].