Alcohol handrubbing and chlorhexidine handwashing are equally effective in removing methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus from health care workers' hands: A randomized controlled trial.

We conducted a randomized controlled trial in a tertiary-care hospital in a real-time setting to evaluate the effectiveness of 3 hand hygiene protocols in reducing hand carriage of methicillin-resistant and methicillin-sensitive Staphylococcus aureus among health care workers. Our study shows that use of alcohol handrub, either covering all hand surfaces in no particular order or using the 7-step technique, and chlorhexidine handwashing were equally effective in removing hand carriage of these pathogens.