Using a standardized form, nurses in each group
recorded their subjective assessments of skin dryness and
irritation (self-assessments). Nurses were asked to rate the
condition of their hands on a scale from 0 to 3 for each of the
following five variables: itching, dryness, burning or stinging,
skin tightness, and bleeding during the last 48 hours,
with 0 being normal and 3 being maximal abnormalities. At
each assessment, a combined score was calculated by
adding the values for the five variables (maximum overall
score, 15). Forms given to participants at the beginning of
follow-up sessions included a statement advising them not to
tell the study nurse the group to which they had been
assigned. However, the study nurse was unblinded to the
original randomization and could have remembered to
which group some of her colleagues had been assigned.