![Clinicians often miss washing fingertips, thumbs and backs of hands.](https://www.mcknights.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2018/07/mltcnpage03bl1015_835035.jpg)
Healthcare workers applying hand sanitizer miss their thumbs 37% of the time, according to new research.
Investigators at the Infanta Cristina Teaching Hospital in Spain studied more than 700 clinicians by looking at their hands with a UV lamp. They found the study subjects missed fingertips and the back of the hands more than 44% of the time. Palms were sanitized almost all of the time.
Only 9% of healthcare workers rubbed their hands correctly.
Results of the study were published in August in the American Journal of Infection Control.
From the October 01, 2015 Issue of McKnight's Long-Term Care News