Practices of skin care among nurses in medical and surgical intensive care units: results of a self-administered questionnaire

Dermatitis of hands is a problem among nurses. The aim of this prospective questionnaire based survey was to analyze practice and knowledge of skin care of medical and surgical nurses. 250 questionnaires were distributed. 49% of respondent stated that they perform skin care at least 1–2 times/day. After hand-wash 15% of participants perform skin protection, after hand-disinfection only 2%. 40% give skin care products less than 3 minutes to be applied. It was shown that this knowledge is lacking in many individuals, leading to wrong behavior at work and insufficient use of skin protection and skin care products.