One of the best ways to prevent the spread of infection in hospitals is to make sure doctors and nurses wash their hands. But studies have shown that health-care professionals sometimes wash as little ...

Nurses are more conscientious handwashers than doctors, finds a study in this week's Christmas issue of the BMJ. Hand washing is a quick, cheap and easy way of preventing the spread of infection.

Researchers tracked alcohol-based handrub use for six months through an electronic hand hygiene monitoring system. Hand hygiene product use and total hours worked were calculated for staff to ...