Hand hygiene (HH) is essential for the prevention of health care–
associated infections. Evidence-based guidelines for health care
workers’ (HCWs) HH exist,1 but compliance with these standards
remains low.2 The emergency department (ED) often represents a
resource-limited, overcrowded health care setting where privacy curtains
are frequently used as separation barriers between beds.
Hospital privacy curtains are a common environmental reservoir for
potentially pathogenic organisms3-7 and have been implicated in a
small number of nosocomial outbreaks.6,8 The objective of this study
was to determine if pathogenic bacteria are transferred to HCWs’
hands after touching privacy curtains in a clinical setting.