Logo Image

Hand Hygiene

Latest News

January 4th 2013
Back to Basics: Hand Hygiene

The healing hands of a healthcare professional too often bear the risk of spreading infection while administering care. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), failure to engage in proper hand hygiene is the leading cause of healthcare-associated infections and the spread of multidrug-resistant organisms (MDROs), including vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus (VRE), methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and Clostridium difficile. Unfortunately, proper hand hygiene can be easily forgotten by busy healthcare workers. A study of 2,834 opportunities for hand hygiene found that hands were cleansed only 48 percent of the time, according to a World Health Organization (WHO) report (2009).

December 28th 2012

Poll Finds 84 Percent of Employed Americans Go to Work Sick

December 28th 2012

Survey Reveals Gym Cleanliness Horror Stories

December 21st 2012

90% of Canadian Healthcare Workers Not Compliant With Hand Hygiene, Electronic Data Show

December 14th 2012

Dog Trained to Sniff Out Clostridium difficile

CME Content

View More
Primary Care Education in Nashville
In-Person + Virtual Event

Primary Care Education in Nashville

October 20-21, 2026

View more

Survey Says Consumer Awareness of Importance of Hand Hygiene is Grossly Exaggerated

A startling number of Americans may be putting their health at risk by not practicing good hand hygiene. When asked about their specific handwashing habits, a vast majority of adults (71 percent) say they regularly wash their hands, but that number may be grossly exaggerated. Nearly 6 in 10 (58 percent) admit that they have witnessed others leaving a public restroom without washing their hands. More than one-third of Americans (35 percent) have witnessed co-workers leaving facilities without washing, and 1 in 5 consumers surveyed (20 percent) have witnessed restaurant employees not washing their hands at all. The worst offenders seem to be men by a significant margin.