Adherence to surgical hand rubbing directives in a hospital district of Southwest Finland.

Background: The primary objective was to measure the compliance with alcohol-based surgical hand rubbing (SHR) among operation room personnel. The secondary objective was to evaluate the effect of feedback sessions on compliance.

Methods: This was a prospective observational before-after intervention study.

Microbiological efficacy and tolerability of a new, non-alcohol-based hand disinfectant.

Objective: Alcohol-based hand disinfectants are widely used in hospitals. Occasionally, there is a need for non-alcohol-based products, but alternatives have been scarce. We studied the microbiological efficacy and tolerability of a water-based hand disinfectant for healthcare workers.

Work hours, work stress, and collaboration among ward staff in relation to risk of hospital-associated infection among patients.

Objectives: To examine the association between work hours, work stress, and collaboration among the ward personnel, and the risk of hospital-associated infection among patients.

Design: Cross-sectional data on hospital infections were collected between March and June 2004. These data were linked with ward-level responses to a personnel survey collected during the same time period.

Elimination of epidemic methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus from a university hospital and district institutions, Finland.

From August 1991 to October 1992, two successive outbreaks of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) occurred at a hospital in Finland. During and after these outbreaks, MRSA was diagnosed in 202 persons in our medical district; >100 cases involved epidemic MRSA. When control policies failed to stop the epidemic, more aggressive measures were taken, including continuous staff education, contact isolation for MRSA-positive patients, systematic screening for persons exposed to MRSA, cohort nursing of MRSA-positive and MRSA-exposed patients in epidemic situations, and perception of the 30 medical institutions in that district as one epidemiologic entity brought under surveillance and control of the infection control team of Turku University Hospital.