Comparison of disinfectant effect of Decosept and Betadine-ethanol on hand bacterial flora

Surgical hand antisepsis is a necessary procedure for the prevention of surgical site infection (SSI). Today, higher efficacy of alcohols has resulted in the worldwide use of alcohol-based disinfectants. This study was conducted in order to compare the disinfectant effect of Decosept hand rub (routine method) with that of Betadine-ethanol (experimental method) on hand bacterial flora. This before and after clinical trial was performed on 20 healthy volunteers in 2012. The participants were selected from students and staff of Hamadan University of Medical Sciences, Iran, using convenience sampling. All research units performed both interventions. In each method, after washing both hands, first sample (prevalue) was taken from fingertips of hands, then hands were scrubbed with Decosept and immediately the second sample (immediate) was taken from one randomly selected hand. After that, they put on a sterile glove on the other hand and 3 hours later the third sample (3h) was taken from fingertips of the same hand. At least one week later, the experimental method was performed. Results were reported as colony-forming unit per milliliter (cfu/ml). To assess effectiveness of solutions, reduction factor (RF) was calculated. Data were analyzed using paired t-test in SPSS version16. Evidently, both antiseptics resulted in the reduction of cfu/ml immediately and 3 hours after disinfection. Mean log10 hand bacterial count before and immediately after disinfection with Decosept were 4.07, 0.81, respectively, and in the second hand before and 3 hours after were 1.94 and 3.87, respectively. paired t-test showed a significant difference between prevalue cfu, and immediate and 3h cfu in both methods. However, the immediate RF and 3h RF of Decosept were higher than Betadine- ethanol (P = 0.0001). The effectiveness of the experimental method on skin bacterial flora of the hand was lower than the routine method. Hence, it is recommended that operation room nurses and surgeons use Decosept for hand antisepsis before surgery.