Dr. Mark Rupp, an infectious disease specialist at the University of Nebraska Medical Center, explained hand gel usually do not reach areas covered by rings and parts of long fingernails. But he added there are other causes of patient infections beyond unclean hands. It includes improper handling of catheters and treatment areas that have not been sanitized well.
His findings appear to go against guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention which advocates frequent washing or use of hand gels to curb the spread of hospital infections.
Infection spread is the cause of 1.7 million infections and almost 100,000 deaths each year. Among the common ones are staph, urinary tract infections and pneumonia.
Aside from saving medical staff time, using hand gels cause less skin irritation compared to soap and water. Considering that some professionals wash their hands up to 50 times a day, many have shifted to hand gels over soap and water. But Teresa Fitzgerald, an infection control specialist, also from the Nebraska Medical Center said visibly soiled hands should be washed with soap and water.
