The availability and safety of Pro’s Choice Hand Cream for hand roughening

Abstract

Hand-washing is the one of the most important nursing techniques for prevention of nosocomial infection as described in CDC Guidelines on Hand Hygiene in Health Care published by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in 2002. Therefore, nurses wash their hands frequently, and hand eczema (hand roughening) can become a problem as the frequency increases. Hand roughening changes the bacterial flora on the skin and facilitates infection by the pathogen, Staphylococcus aureus. Therefore, hand-care not only improves the QOL of health care workers, but is also important for nosocomial infection control. Shizuoka Cancer Center, Pharma Valley Center, and Sunstar Inc. co-developed ceramide2- and ceramide5-containing hand cream “Pro’s Choice Hand Cream,” and evaluated its effect on improving hand roughening, moisturizing effect, safety for volunteers with hand roughening at the same level as nurses, in comparison with a commercial product. Both products improved hand roughening for 90% of volunteers in 4 weeks, with comparable moisturizing effect and safety. With regard to usability, the “intention for continuous use” score was the same for both products, but the “texture” score was significantly higher for Pro’s Choice Hand Cream than the commercial product. This study suggested that improvement of hand roughening and skin moisturizing effect as well as safety of Pro’s Choice Hand Cream are equivalent to a commercial product, and its acceptability is greater than the commercial product. Pro’s Choice Hand Cream is helpful for the hand care of nurses and others at risk of hand roughening.