| Author: | Lung, Yan Ting Vanessa |
| Title: | Evaluation of different hand drying methods for removing bacteria from washed hands : a cross-sectional study |
| Advisors: | Suen, Lorna (SN) |
| Degree: | M.Sc. |
| Year: | 2018 |
| Subject: | Hong Kong Polytechnic University -- Dissertations Hand -- Drying Hand -- Care and hygiene Infection -- Prevention Hand washing |
| Department: | School of Nursing |
| Pages: | 72 pages : color illustrations |
| Language: | English |
| Abstract: | Aim: To investigate and evaluate whether there are any differences in the amount of bacteria (colony-forming units, CFU) on the hands before and after drying with six different hand-drying methods: one or two paper towel(s), warm air dryer with hands rubbing or holding stationary, drying on clothes, and jet air dryer. Materials and Methods: This is an experimental study performed on individual subjects using multiple comparisons. A total of 30 subjects (9 males and 21 females) participated in the experiment. Subjects were assigned randomly for the six drying methods being tested, decided by a computer-generated randomized table. All the samples were taken from the dominant hand of the participants. Before testing by each hand drying method, the participants' hands were artificially contaminated with bacterial suspension containing Serratia marcescens. The hands were bacteriologically sampled before and after standardized cleaning procedure and individual hand drying methods. All cultures were incubated at 37°C for 24 hours, and the CFUs of the marked organism were counted by the 'BIOMIC laboratory plate reader'. Results: It is found that using jet air hand dryer was the most effective way in removing the bacteria on hands. There is no significant difference between the CFU counts using one paper towel and two paper towels (P>0.05). However, drying by warm air dryer with hands held stationary was found to be more effective in removing bacteria on hands than that of hands being rubbed (P<0.05). Drying the hands on clothes is the least efficient method to remove bacteria on hands. With regard to the time used for completely drying the hands, it was found that the drying time for jet air dryer ranged from 15 to 25 seconds; while it took about 50 seconds to more than 1 minute for a warm air dryer to achieve complete dryness. Conclusion: Jet air hand dryer was the most effective way in removing the bacteria on hands. When hands were rubbed during drying, bacteria on the hands increased significantly than when hands were held stationary. Warm air dryers were much slower than jet air dryer to achieve complete hand dryness. Since the use of paper towels may have adverse effects related to waste disposal and environment sustainability, it is recommended to use the least possible number of paper towels for hand drying. |
| Rights: | All rights reserved |
| Access: | restricted access |
Files in This Item:
| File | Description | Size | Format | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 991022141359103411.pdf | For All Users (off-campus access for PolyU Staff & Students only) | 1.13 MB | Adobe PDF | View/Open |
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