Hand disinfectants and surgical site infections: A narrative review

Abstract

Surgical site infection is one of the most common health-related infections, which can cause problems for health care providers by increasing morbidity and mortality, length of hospital stay, and costs. Undoubtedly, one of the most efficient and cost-effective ways to fight infection is to prevent it. An essential measure in infection control is the disinfection of the surgical team members to remove fat and contamination, eliminate transient microorganisms, and prevent the growth and proliferation of resident microorganisms on the skin. This study aimed to introduce different types of soap and alcohol disinfectant solutions for surgical scrub and describe the advantages and disadvantages of each by reviewing several recent research studies. This study is a brief overview of the recently conducted articles as searched in library resources, the Google Scholar Search Engine, Pubmed, UpToDate, Cochran, and Scopus databases using the English keywords of "hand hygiene", "infection control", "hand disinfection/methods", "hand disinfection/standards", and "Surgical Procedures, Operative" as well as the Persian keywords of "surgical scrub", "Povidone-iodine", "alcohol", and "hand disinfection". After reviewing 76 articles and eliminating the duplicate sources, 43 studies published from 2007 to 2019 were fully reviewed. Finally, 26 sources were selected as eligible with substantial relevance to the subject matter and subsequently reviewed. Based on the review of articles, it can be concluded that alcoholic solutions are often effective alternatives to soap scrub solutions due to their high disinfecting properties, safety, rapid effectiveness, and greater compliance with instructions.