Table 1.
Duration and quality of coverage of six techniques for hand disinfection (repetition of steps).
| Type of hand rub | Repetitions of six steps (n) | Duration (median) | Duration (mean) | Location of untreated skin areas | Size of untreated skin areas (back of hands) | |||||
| Whole hand | Palmar side | Dorsal side | 0% | < 5% | 5% – 15% | > 15% | ||||
| PBHR* | 1 | 17 s | 16.7 s | 100% | 20% | 100% | 0% | 7% | 40% | 53% |
| PBHR | 2 | 23 s | 24.7 s | 93% | 53% | 87% | 13% | 40% | 20% | 27% |
| PBHR | 3 | 25 s | 25.7 s | 93% | 20% | 93% | 7% | 67% | 27% | 0% |
| PBHR | 4 | 35 s | 34.9 s | 87% | 33% | 80% | 20% | 53% | 7% | 20% |
| PBHR | 5 | 40 s | 37.3 s | 67% | 13% | 67% | 33% | 53% | 13% | 0% |
| Reference alcohol | 5 (twice) | 70 s | 74.8 s | 53% | 7% | 53% | 47% | 47% | 7% | 0% |
Application of a propanol-based hand rub in five treatment variations, or application of the reference alcohol: duration, and proportion and location of untreated skin areas, with size given for the back of hands; *PBHR = propanol-based hand rub.