Leaders at Brookwood Medical Center have made a major commitment to improving hand hygiene as part of an overall effort to improve the hospital's quality of care. Recent Centers for Disease Control studies place hospital hand hygiene at less than fifty percent. Clinical studies have shown that skin dryness and irritation can be the biggest barriers to hand hygiene. It is believed when irritation is reduced, hand hygiene compliance increases and nosocomial infection rates decrease. That's why Aloetouch® latex-free gloves made sense for Brookwood. "We are always looking for ways to make Brookwood a more pleasant place to work," said Jackie Martinek, Chief Nursing Officer. "When we came across Aloetouch® latex-free exam gloves, we decided to trial them to see if they really made a difference. We were delighted to find that almost all those who tested the gloves noticed an improvement in the quality of their skin after just a few days." These latex-free exam gloves are coated with pure aloe vera, the same ingredient used in premium skin care products. Freeze-dried aloe is applied to the entire surface of the gloves. When you put on an Aloetouch® latex-free glove, your body heat and perspiration reactivate the aloe, bathing your hands in natural, hydrating moisturizer. November 2006