Nurses are more conscientious handwashers than doctors, finds a study in this week's Christmas issue of the BMJ. Hand washing is a quick, cheap and easy way of preventing the spread of infection.

Researchers tracked alcohol-based handrub use for six months through an electronic hand hygiene monitoring system. Hand hygiene product use and total hours worked were calculated for staff to ...

Hospitals have spent considerable resources trying to reduce the number of preventable mistakes that doctors and nurses make, such as skipping hand washing. But it’s hard to ensure that caregivers ...

I was lying on my back on a gurney, getting my abdomen washed by the nurse. She dipped Q-tip-like sticks into the brown antiseptic and then swirled them on my skin where the physician would make his ...