EVIDENCE BASED PRACTICE 2
Evidence based practice
Hand hygiene is the act of cleaning hands to prevent spread of infections and
microorganisms from one person to another (Mara, 2017, p.100). One can clean hands by either
use of water and soap or alcohol based hand sanitizers. Hand sanitizers kill germs whenever they
come into contact with them. When washing hands with soap, germs and dirt attached to the
natural skin are lifted and suspended by water. This paper will look at a study taken in Aden
Brookes hospital in United Kingdom to compare the two types of hand washing.
The study involved women with children below the age of 10 years suffering from
diarrhea. One of the group was to do hand washing with soap and the other alcohol based
sanitizers. They were supposed to wash hands before giving food to their children. In order to
come up with the best results, nurses put an e-coli bacteria on everyone’s hand to see which
product will swipe it best. E-coli is a form of bacteria found in human beings or animals and can
cause diarrhea (Elizabeth & Nancie 2010, p.70)
After the experiment, they swabbed their hands to see if the bacteria has been swiped
away. The study showed that, hand wash with water and soap gave the best results whereby the
e-coli bacteria was swiped away. In this case, water and soap was seen as the best ingredients for
washing hands.
Alcohol based sanitizers tend to kill germs although Jordan & Sharon (2014, p.300)
argues that, they does not kill all germs that come into contact with it. Also, when rubbing hands,
a person may not rub all the parts of the hand hence leaving some bacteria. Alcohol based
sanitizers can only kill a small percentage of bacteria therefore nurses did not consider it as the
best way of cleaning hands.

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Hand Hygiene: Soap and Water vs Alcohol Based Sanitizers

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