Hand hygiene

There is no doubt that the core element of infection prevention is hand hygiene – and the most effective measure against nosocomial (hospital-acquired) infection is hygienic and surgical hand disinfection. By ensuring a high level of compliance, medical and nursing staff not only protect patients, but also themselves. Beyond that, hand care, occupational skin protection and precisely knowing when to cleanse hands form the basis for healthy skin.

Use this page to find out about applicable guidelines and current findings in the field of professional hand hygiene, read interesting interviews with scientists and get inspired by hand hygiene actions.

How to disinfect hands properly Download – (PDF 4.0 MB)

Hand hygiene is infection prevention By introducing the 5 Moments for Hand Hygiene, the World Health Organization (WHO) has created a model and a worldwide campaign that provide concrete guidance for implementing hygienic hand disinfection in daily routine. At national level, the German AKTION Saubere Hände (Clean Hands Campaign) provides various materials that have been adapted on the basis of the WHO model for different areas of application in the clinical and primary care sector.

KRINKO Recommendation: Hand Hygiene in Healthcare Facilities

In 2016, the Commission for Hospital Hygiene and Infectious Disease Prevention (KRINKO) at the Robert Koch-Institute (RKI) updated... read more

Professor Didier Pittet: The right to hand hygiene

Professor Didier Pittet serves as the director of the Infection Control Programme at the University of Geneva Hospitals... read more

Medical personnel may not be aware of the risk of infection

Hand hygiene is still not sufficiently and consistently implemented. One possible reason is that medical personnel do not... read more