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Table 1 Summary of keywords commonly used in hand hygiene literature and number of publications retrieved by the indicated search strategy

From: Why language matters: a tour through hand hygiene literature

Hand hygiene literature commonly used keywordsa

Search strategyb

Number of articles

Search detailsc

hand hygiene

“hand hygiene”[Mesh]

5401

“Hand Hygiene”[Mesh]

“hand hygiene”

3085

“hand hygiene”[All Fields]

hand disinfection

“hand disinfection”[Mesh]

4868

“hand disinfection”[Mesh]

hand disinf*

5083

hand disinfectant[All Fields] OR hand disinfectants[All Fields] OR hand disinfection[All Fields] OR hand disinfections[All Fields]

hand sanitizers

“hand sanitizers”[Mesh]

66

“hand sanitizers”[Mesh]

hand sanit*

317

hand sanitation[All Fields] OR hand sanitiser[All Fields] OR hand sanitisers[All Fields] OR hand sanitising[All Fields] OR hand sanitization[All Fields] OR hand sanitizer[All Fields] OR hand sanitizers[All Fields] OR hand sanitizing[All Fields]

hand washing

“hand washing “OR “handwashing “OR “hand wash“

3564

“hand washing”[All Fields] OR “handwashing”[All Fields] OR “hand wash”[All Fields]

hand rubbing

hand rub* OR handrubbing

532

(hand rub[All Fields] OR hand rubbing[All Fields] OR hand rubs[All Fields]) OR handrubbing[All Fields]

surgical scrubbing

surgical scrub*

271

surgical scrub[All Fields] OR surgical scrubbing [All Fields] OR surgical scrubs [All Fields]

hand cleansing

hand cleans*

95

hand cleanser[All Fields] OR hand cleansers [All Fields] OR hand cleansing [All Fields]

hand decontamination

hand deconta*

59

hand decontaminants[All Fields] OR hand decontaminating[All Fields] OR hand decontamination[All Fields]

hand cleaning

“hand cleaning“

34

“hand cleaning”[All Fields]

hand antisepsis

hand-antisep*

126

hand antisepsis[All Fields] OR hand antiseptic[All Fields] OR hand antiseptics[All Fields]

alcohol-based hand rub

alcohol-based hand rub*

306

alcohol based hand rub[All Fields] OR alcohol based hand rubbing[All Fields] OR alcohol based hand rubs[All Fields]

ALL keywords

ALL keywordsd

9019

e

  1. Search performed on the 03th of November of 2016
  2. aThe terms used for search resulted from a consensus between the authors
  3. bThe terms are stated as typed in PubMed®
  4. cRefers to the content shown on the search details box on the NCBI home page after typing the specific MEDELINE® strategy stated
  5. dThe search strategy used was: (“Hand Hygiene”[Mesh] OR “hand hygiene” OR “hand disinfection”[Mesh] OR hand disinf* OR “hand sanitizers”[Mesh] OR hand sanit* OR “hand washing” OR “handwashing” OR “hand wash” OR hand rub* OR “handrubbing” OR hand cleans* OR hand deconta* OR “hand cleaning” OR alcohol-based hand rub* OR hand-antisep* OR surgical scrub*)
  6. eThe search details retrieved were: (“Hand Hygiene”[Mesh] OR “hand hygiene”[All Fields] OR “hand disinfection”[Mesh] OR (hand disinfectant[All Fields] OR hand disinfectants[All Fields] OR hand disinfection[All Fields] OR hand disinfections[All Fields]) OR “hand sanitizers”[Mesh] OR (hand sanitation[All Fields] OR hand sanitiser[All Fields] OR hand sanitisers[All Fields] OR hand sanitising[All Fields] OR hand sanitization[All Fields] OR hand sanitizer[All Fields] OR hand sanitizers[All Fields] OR hand sanitizing[All Fields]) OR “hand washing”[All Fields] OR “handwashing”[All Fields] OR “hand wash”[All Fields] OR (hand rub[All Fields] OR hand rubbing[All Fields] OR hand rubs[All Fields]) OR “handrubbing”[All Fields] OR (hand cleanser[All Fields] OR hand cleansers[All Fields] OR hand cleansing[All Fields]) OR (hand decontaminants[All Fields] OR hand decontaminating[All Fields] OR hand decontamination[All Fields]) OR “hand cleaning”[All Fields] OR (alcohol based hand rub[All Fields] OR alcohol based hand rubbing[All Fields] OR alcohol based hand rubs[All Fields]) OR (hand antisepsis[All Fields] OR hand antiseptic[All Fields] OR hand antiseptics[All Fields]) OR (surgical scrub[All Fields] OR surgical scrubbing[All Fields] OR surgical scrubs[All Fields])