Surgical hand disinfection is divided into two steps, the first step is hand washing, the second step is disinfection. It is controversial whether the paper towel used after the first step of hand washing needs to be sterilized.

 

There are two kinds of dry hand articles used in surgical hand disinfection: small towel and disposable paper towel. According to WS / t313-2009 code for hand hygiene of medical personnel, dry towels used for surgical hand disinfection should be used by each person. It has a long history for the operating personnel to use sterile towel to dry after washing their hands. Because the towel is easy to store dirt and is not easy to dry, cleaning and non sterilization after use may cause pollution when drying hands. Therefore, the reused cloth dry towel must be cleaned and sterilized after use. However, it has not been specified whether disposable dry tissue must be sterilized.

 

Some research tests have found that there is no significant difference in the effectiveness of other methods of hand drying in terms of bacteria removal. Hand drying after hand washing is just preparation for the next step of disinfection. Therefore, the author believes that as long as the technical indicators of dry hand tissue meet the national standards, and the microbiological indicators meet the provisions of GB15979-2002 hygienic standards for disposable sanitary products, the dry hand tissue used after the first step of hand washing can not reach the sterilization level.

 

In fact, some medical institutions have used non sterilized paper to dry their hands, but there is no evidence-based research to support this practice in China.