Geriatrics Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Geriatrics, including details on old age, psychiatry, depression, medicine.

Skin exposure in geriatric care - a comparison between observation and self-assessment of exposure.

Anveden I, Meding B

Occupational and Environmental Health, Centre for Public Health, Karolinska Institutet, SE-171 76 Stockholm, Sweden. ingegard.anveden@sll.se

The aim of this study was to compare observation and self-assessment of skin exposure to irritants during a working day in nursing in geriatric care. The study group consisted of 40 volunteers, 13 nurses, and 27 assistant nurses. Before the start of a working day, the participants completed a questionnaire regarding skin exposure to water, gloves, hand disinfection, and moisturizers. Observers subsequently used a hand-held computer to register the time and frequency of each exposure. The total mean skin exposure time was 96 min per working day, including glove use. The mean exposure time to water was 9 min per working day. A tendency to overestimate was found for all exposures. A strong correlation between self-reports and observations was found for hand disinfection and moisturizers, while a moderate correlation was found for gloves and number of water exposures and a weak correlation for total time of water exposure. Despite the differences between self-assessment and observation of the exposure, we consider the questionnaire to be useful for surveying skin exposure in nursing. Furthermore, the observations in this study suggest that nursing work in geriatric care may comprise limited exposure to water.

Published 17 September 2007 in Contact Dermatitis, 57(4): 253-8.
Full-text of this article is available online (may require subscription).

© 2005-2008 Geriatrics Research Today. All Rights Reserved.