2012 Volume 27 Issue 6 Pages 375-379
The effectiveness of waterless presurgical antiseptic with 1.0 w/v% chlorhexidine gluconate (CHG)/ethanol preparation (waterless method) was compared with a 4 w/v% CHG scrub followed by application of 0.2 w/v% benzalkonium chloride (BAC)/ethanol preparation (two-stage method). Ten volunteer surgical personnel were enrolled in this study. The effectiveness was evaluated by the glove juice test based on the FDA monograph tentative final. Colony counts were significantly reduced with both the waterless and two-stage methods immediately and 3 hours after hand antisepsis. The waterless method showed superior persistent antiseptic effect. The reduction factor (RF) was used to compare the two methods. The RF value showed no significant difference between the waterless method and the two-stage method immediately after hand antisepsis, but the waterless method had significantly superior antiseptic effect after 3 hours (2.99±0.49 vs 2.01±0.70, respectively). These findings suggest that the waterless method with 1.0 w/v% CHG is an effective presurgical hand antiseptic method.
