Study finds inconsistent dosing for hand hygiene

Health facilities should evaluate touch-free automatic foam alcohol-based hand rub outputs and consider consistent dosing for effective hand hygiene, a study concluded. Published in the American Journal of Infection Control, the study investigated five touch-free automatic foam alcohol-based hand rub hand hygiene dispensers commonly found in U.S. hospitals. The researchers evaluated output dosing for consistency to comply with the Leapfrog 2022 guidance requirement of ≥1.0 mL per alcohol-based hand rub dispense. They found some automatic foam dispensers provide less than one mL per does on average, and dispenser design and pump engineering affect dosing volume and consistency. They found timing delays between dispenses can affect the average dispensed dose. A low dispensing volume leads to ineffective hand hygiene and increases the infection transmission potential. (American Journal of Infection Control article, 2/16/25)