Dive Brief:
- A study from The University of Manchester finds that dermatitis has increased 4.5 times among UK healthcare workers following a drive to increase hand washing in an attempt to reduce infections such as MRSA.
- Researchers from the university's Institute of Population Health utilized reports provided by dermatologists between 1996 and 2012. The researchers determined that out of the 7,138 cases of irritant contact dermatitis reported, 1,796 of these occurred in healthcare providers.
- When researchers looked at the data by year, they found that healthcare providers became 4.5 times more likely to experience irritant contact dermatitis in 2012 than they were in 1996. Among two control groups, cases of dermatitis either declined or remained steady.
Dive Insight:
The kicker here is that while increased hand washing has been deemed a success in the UK, with a reduced number of infections reported, the incidence of dermatitis provides some risk in itself. Infections can remain present for longer on damaged and broken skin, the researchers note, and the discomfort of irritated skin can cause people to reduce their hand washing.
As lead researcher Dr. Jill Stocks notes in a prepared statement, "Campaigns to reduce these infections have been very successful and many lives have been saved. However, we need to do all we can to prevent skin irritation among these frontline workers."
She suggests more needs to be done to supply healthcare providers with less irritating products, and to implement practices to help prevent and treat irritant contact dermatitis.