Acrylic Nails And Infection Control

Anything that makes the scrub process less effective needs to be viewed with concern and suspicion says Michael B.

Acrylic nails and infection control. Aeruginosa in a neonatal intensive care unit could be attributed to two. Acrylic nails harbor more bacteria than natural nails and wear is not recommended for health care workers HCWs. Clean any nail grooming tools before use.

The hard gel can be really tough when cured. JCAHO Recommendations One of the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations JCAHO 2007 National Patient Safety Goals NPSG revisits the importance of hand hygiene and artificial nails6 NPSG 7 reads as follows. Clin Infect Dis 2001 Feb 1.

The US research published in the American Journal of Infection Control involved painting the nails of healthcare workers with standard polish. More widespread use of hand hygiene products that improve adherence to recommended hand hygiene practices will promote patient safety and prevent infections. Although health care workers are following fashion trends when they wear artificial nails the implications of these nails for infection control is unknown.

In both studies nail surfaces were swabbed and subungual debris was collected to obtain material for culture. Hewlett MD MS a b Heather Hohenberger MSN RN c Caitlin N. So always take a glue-stick with you in your handbag.

There are basically 2 gel nails types. American Journal of Infection Control. The Joint Commission has also added these recommendations from CDC to their Infection Control standards and included the issue of artificial nails in Patient Safety Goal 7.

First what is the possibility that acrylic nails in the OR could cause either infection-control problems or trouble with the nails themselves. 4 Evidence of Relationship Between Hand Hygiene and Healthcare-Associated Infections. When you notice one of your acrylic nail lifting or is not fitted well then you must glue it back immediately in order to prevent it from moisture.