Handwashing is acknowledged as a critical factor in the prevention of
nosocomial infection. Nonetheless, health care personnel often wash th
eir hands inadequately. The purpose of this study was to examine the n
ora of hands and the frequency of handwashing of physicians working in
primary care pediatric community clinics. The fingers of the dominant
hand of 55 physicians working in 12 clinics were sampled for bacteria
l cultures. Only 354/720 (49%) of the expected handwashings by 17 boar
d-certified pediatricians were recorded as having been performed. None
of them washed their hands after each contact with an examined child.
All physicians' hands were found to be contaminated with microorganis
ms. Staphylococcus species were isolated from 47 (85.4%) of the physic
ians) hands. Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus was found on
the hands of 9.1% of the physicians. Such contaminated hands may serve
as a potential vector of community-acquired infection with highly res
istant organisms. Compliance with handwashing recommendations among th
ese physicians was low. An active educational infection control progra
m must be introduced in ambulatory pediatric community clinics.