Ten to fifteen seconds are needed for complete skin coverage with alcoholic hand disinfectant

[...]a survey of infection control professionals in Germany revealed some concerns with implementing such a practice.2 One such concern is the time needed to reach complete coverage of the hands with the alcoholic disinfectant.3 We conducted an experimental study during the Freiburg congress of infectious disease and infection control (Freiburger Infektiologie- und Hygienekongress) and a consulting center (BZH) meeting in 2019 to find out what volume–time combination might be sufficient to reach almost 100% skin coverage regardless of the rubbing technique used. Because no personal or otherwise identifying data were recorded, no written consent was needed according to the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). [...]these groups of healthcare workers might be highly theoretically trained but maybe not the most frequent performers in daily life. [...]we believe that our results can be extrapolated to healthcare workers in general and that optimal skin coverage with an alcoholic hand disinfectant can be reached within 10–15 seconds.