Simplifying the World Health Organization (WHO) Protocol for Hand Hygiene: Three Steps and 15 Seconds

Simplifying Hand Hygiene Technique: Six Steps and 30 Seconds Versus Six Steps and 15 Seconds Versus Three Steps and 30 Seconds Versus Three Steps and 15 Seconds

Status

Completed

Phases

Study type

Interventional

Source

ClinicalTrials.gov

Registry ID

NCT04102488

Acronym

SIHAG II

Enrollment

Registered

2019-09-25

Start date

2019-09-15

Completion date

2020-02-21

Last updated

2020-04-08

For informational purposes only — not medical advice. Sourced from public registries and may not reflect the latest updates. Terms

Conditions

Hand Hygiene

Keywords

reduction of bacterial counts, hand hygiene technique

Brief summary

This study is to investigate that non-inferiority in terms of reduction of bacterial counts will be retained when combining the simpler three-step technique for the use of hand rub with a shorter application time of 15 seconds.

Detailed description

The WHO guideline recommends 30 seconds for application of hand rub, however, mean bacterial reduction after 15 seconds of hand rubbing has been recently shown to be non-inferior and shortening application time to 15 seconds has been suggested to improve the frequency of hand hygiene actions in a neonatal care unit. This study is to investigate that non-inferiority in terms of reduction of bacterial counts will be retained when combining the simpler three-step technique for the use of hand rub with a shorter application time of 15 seconds.

Interventions

PROCEDURESix-step hand hygiene technique with an application time of 30 seconds

Six-step hand hygiene technique with an application time of 30 seconds

PROCEDURESix-step hand hygiene technique with an application time of 15 seconds

Six-step hand hygiene technique with an application time of 15 seconds

PROCEDUREThree-step hand hygiene technique with an application time of 30 seconds

Three-step hand hygiene technique with an application time of 30 seconds

PROCEDUREThree-step hand hygiene technique with an application time of 15 seconds

Three-step hand hygiene technique with an application time of 15 seconds

Study design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Intervention model

PARALLEL

Primary purpose

SCREENING

Masking

NONE

Intervention model description

two different hand hygiene techniques (six steps and three steps) and two different application times for hand rub (30 seconds and 15 seconds)

Eligibility

Sex/Gender

ALL

Age

18 Years to 31 Years

Healthy volunteers

Yes

Inclusion criteria

* Medical students are eligible for participation * Signed informed consent

Exclusion criteria

* No signed informed consent

Design outcomes

Primary

Measure	Time frame	Description
Change of bacterial counts on hands	30 minutes	Change of bacterial counts on hands as determined by the mean logarithmic reduction in bacterial counts after performance of hand hygiene

Countries

Switzerland

Outcome results

None listed

Source: ClinicalTrials.gov · Data processed: Feb 4, 2026