Objective: A prospective observation study was undertaken in seven medical centers, in the French region Alpes-Maritime, to assess nail hygiene of healthcare professionals and how often they wear hand jewellery.
Method: Seven hundred and six healthcare workers in seven medical centers were interviewed from March to April 2008.
Results: Among the 706 professionals, 306 (43%) were wearing one or several pieces of jewellery. The nails of 81 (11.5%) were non-standard according to guidelines. Three hundred and forty-four health care professionals (49%) were wearing one or several pieces of jewellery and/or presented with non-standard nails. In univariate analysis, the wearing of jewellery was linked to the medical centre (P<0.001), to the professional category (p<0.001), to the number of times people washed their hands or used hand gel per day (ABHR) by categories (<10 times per day or ≥10 times per day) (P<0.017). In the multivariate analysis, the risk factors linked to the wearing of jewellery were the medical centers, the professional category, and the age.
Conclusion: There are still too many healthcare professionals who do not comply to French recommendations on hand hygiene concerning the wearing of jewellery and nail hygiene standards.
Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.