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Effect of Hand Sanitizer Use on Elementary School Absenteeism

Prepared by GOJO Industries, Inc.

Introduction

Absenteeism due to illness is a major problem in both public and private educational institutions, especially at the elementary level. The spread of communicable diseases is responsible for more than 164 million lost school days annually among Kindergarten through Twelfth Grade public school students alone.

Absenteeism caused by illness contributes significantly to the costs of lost public funding, school administrative expenses, health care, and parental leave. More fundamentally, it disrupts the students' learning process and development. The Carnegie Foundation for Education stated that 83% of teachers feel that absenteeism is the main problem they face in their school. The major contributor to absenteeism at the elementary school level is illness caused by the spread of germs.

Hands are the primary mode of transmission of many infectious diseases, particularly among school-age children. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, simple handwashing is the single most important method of preventing the spread of infectious diseases. However in schools, close contact and insufficient handwashing contribute to the spread of germs that cause illness. Teaching children appropriate hand hygiene can potentially result in reducing the spread of infection and the resulting lost learning days. Although handwashing is an excellent method for providing hand hygiene and reducing risk of cross infection through hand contact, there are classroom situations where it is impossible or inappropriate. In these situations, an alcohol-based, gel hand sanitizer provides a hand hygiene alternate that is quick, easy, and effective.

GOJO Industries, Inc., a world leader in professional skin care, has worked with school systems across the country in an effort to reduce the amount of absenteeism due to illnesses by improving hand hygiene. The objective of this particular study was to determine the effectiveness of using an alcohol-based sanitizer (PURELL® Instant Hand Sanitizer) in the classroom to decrease the illness-related absentee rate for students.

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