The survey respondents answered five questions about antiseptic skin cleanser products and the use of these products within their facility. The compiled responses indicated the high importance of the effectiveness of the product. The most commonly suggested product improvement was for the product to be non-irritating to skin. The leading cause for an antiseptic skin cleanser being ineffective was due to staff not being properly motivated to following hand washing and/or hand sanitization procedures. A noticeable percentage (19 per cent) of those surveyed rated compliance in following hand washing and/or hand sanitisation procedures in their facilities as unacceptable.

The survey was designed by the BioScience Laboratories. Questions were developed based on informally gathered opinions from infection control personnel at similar industry conferences. It was carried out in person at the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology’s annual Conference (APIC 2009) in the US during the summer. The identity of survey participants was not collected. The survey participants consisted of 81 attendees at APIC 2009, all of them involved in infection control in some capacity.

The survey participants were asked to respond to five questions about antiseptic skin cleanser products and the use of these products within their facility. The questions were:

• Most important product attributes for an antiseptic skin cleanser.

• Most likely cause that an antiseptic skin cleanser is not effective.

• Level of compliance in following disinfection procedures in your facility.

• Awareness of the application instructions for the antiseptic skin cleanser used in your facility.

• Top eight changes and/or improvements to current antiseptic skin cleanser product.

Infection control professionals gave the highest ranking to effectiveness over other product attributes. They also desire a product that is easy to apply and non-irritating. There is room to improve the level of compliance in following disinfection procedures - 19 per cent of those surveyed rated it at an unacceptable level within their facility. The most leading causes that hand washing and hand sanitisation procedures were not followed were related to unmotivated staff, a poor dispensing system and untrained staff.

When asked about changes to their current antiseptic skin cleanser product, having a non-irritating product was the most commonly suggested improvement. Other suggested product changes and improvements, though, were less related to the product itself, but rather included improved compliance, more availability of the product in the facility, better education about the product and a dispenser that leaked less.