AORN Revises Hand Hygiene Recommended Practice

The Association of periOperative Registered Nurses (AORN) announces that it has revised terminology in its recently published “Recommended Practices for Hand Hygiene in the Perioperative Setting” to account for the multiple regulatory paths related to hand hygiene products.

AORN “Recommended Practices” are developed by perioperative nurse specialists in the AORN Center for Nursing Practice, members of the Recommended Practices Committee, and other selected perioperative experts, in collaboration with liaisons from various professional and regulatory organizations. Recommended practices undergo regular peer review and are revised as necessary to reflect the latest information and research to ensure quality of care and patient safety.

The following terminology revising recommendation III of this recommended practice was submitted and approved by AORN’s board of directors on July 17, 2009: “A surgical hand scrub should be performed by healthcare personnel before donning sterile gloves for surgical or other invasive procedures. Use of either an antimicrobial surgical scrub agent intended for surgical hand antisepsis or an alcohol-based antiseptic surgical hand rub with documented persistent and cumulative activity that has met U.S. Food and Drug (FDA) regulatory requirements for surgical hand antisepsis is acceptable.”

The AORN board of directors also approved removing the term “FDA Approved” from recommendations III.b, IV.b and VII.c.2 of this recommended practice.

These changes will be made to the “Recommended Practices for Hand Hygiene in the Perioperative Setting,” which is currently available electronically. AORN’s electronic recommended practices are currently available through AORN’s new eSubscription (www.aorn.org/eSubscription) and through a pay-per-document platform (www.aorn.org/PracticeResources/AORNStandardsandRecommendedPractices/EDocuments/).