PhD Scientific Days 2022

Health Sciences (Poster discussion will take place in the Aula during the Coffee Break)

Application Differences of Liquid and Gel Alcohol-based Handrubs Formulations

Text of the abstract

Introduction: Hand disinfection using alcohol-based handrubs (ABHR, or hand sanitizers) is the cornerstone of hospital hygiene and infection control. Current clinical guidelines do not contain any information regarding the hand sanitizer formulation, and do not accurately specify application volume. The chemical and rheological differences of ABHRs result in practical differences (spreadability, evaporation rate) during their application, which results in efficiency differences we could impact infection control.

Aims: In this study, we examined liquid and gel based ABHRs to investigate whether the difference in their physico-chemical parameters results in a significant difference in their successful clinical application and hand hygiene efficiency.

Methods: In a laboratory setting, we examined handrub density, viscosity and evaporation rate, while in a clinical setting, we investigated spreadability, application time and ABHR dripping. Evaporation rates were times, viscosity was measured by SV-10 Vibrational Viscometer (A&D Co, Japan), spreadability was assessed by the Semmelweis Scanner (HandInScan Zrt., Debrecen, Hungary), and handrub dripping was evaluated with UV photography.

Results: According to our results, ABHR evaporation rates follow a linear pattern, which results in an average loss of 10 % of the initial volume in under 60 seconds. As the gel ABHR being more viscous spills less, and therefore larger volumes can be better handled however, liquid ABHRs can be spread better reaching high spreadability even at lower ABHR volumes.

Conclusion: The conclusion is that an optimized handrub protocol would require different volumes for different hand sizes, also taking into account the ABHR formulation.

Funding: ÚNKP-21-4-I-SE-33, ÚNKP-21-4-I-SE-13