Innovations in hand hygiene: Manugel from SSL International.

Hand hygiene is the single most effective method of preventing cross-infection. Barriers to performing effective hand hygiene include lack of time and the poor cosmetic acceptability of many of the available hand decontaminants. These problems are exacerbated in domiciliary nursing care where conditions in some homes may prevent adequate decontamination, especially when drying hands. Damp hands transfer bacteria more effectively than dry ones. The availability of newer alcoholic hand gels is helping to overcome these problems and the introduction of single-use sachets is of particular benefit in domiciliary care.