Years | Event(s) |
1825 | Labarraque publishes advice that healthcare providers attending patients with contagious diseases would benefit from moistening their hands with a liquid chloride solution. |
1843 | Oliver Wendell Holmes concludes that puerperal fever is spread by the hands of healthcare personnel. |
1847 | Semmelweis insists that providers clean their hands with a chlorine solution between each patient; the data show it to be more effective than handwashing with plain soap and water. |
1961 | U.S. Public health Service training film about recommended handwashing techniques. |
1975, 1985 | CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) publishes formal guidelines for handwashing practices. |
1988, 1995 | APIC (Association for Professionals in Infection Control) publishes handwashing guidelines; the 1995 version supported wider use of alcohol-based rubs. |
1995, 1996 | HICPAC (Healthcare Infection Control Practices Advisory Committee) recommends using either an antimicrobial soap or a waterless antiseptic agent when leaving the room of a patient with multidrug-resistant pathogens such as VRE (vancomycin-resistant enterococci) and MRSA (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus). |
2002 | CDC publishes “Guideline for Hand Hygiene in Healthcare Settings”. |
2009 | WHO (World Health Organization) publishes “WHO Guidelines on Hand Hygiene in Health Care”. |
2010- | Guideline updates. |