ObjectiveTo study the feasibility of using paper hand towels instead of sterilized hand towels in non-rinse surgical hand antisepsis, and make a hygienic and economic evaluation on sterilized hand towels and paper hand towels.MethodsFrom July to September 2016, a cluster sampling method was used to study the hand samples of all health care workers who performed surgical hand sanitization in the operating room on Thursday. According to their work contents, they were asigned into the intervention group (using paper hand towels to dry hands) and the control group (using sterilized hand towels to dry hands); further, according to the odd or even number of the staff identification number, the intervention group was divided into Group A (using Likang hand towels to dry hands) and Group B (using Qingfeng hand towels to dry hands). The packing specifications and costs of hand-drying items in the warehouse were surveyed, as well as the average number of medical workers performing an operation and the number of sheets of sterilized hand towels or paper hand towels used per person, and the cost of different hand dryers for each procedure was calculated. Finally, the hygienic and economic effects of using paper hand towels were evaluated.ResultsThere were 30, 39, and 30 hand hygiene samples collected in the control group, Group A, and Group B, respectively. The total bacterial count of each group was less than 5 cfu/cm2, which met the hygienic requirements of surgical hand disinfection in the manual hygiene standard for medical personnel (WS/T 313－2019), i.e., the passing rate of each group was 100%. According to the calculation that each operation required at least 4 medical workers, each operation consumed 8 sterilized hand towels at a cost of 15.2 yuan; if using paper hand towels, each operation consumed 16 sheets at a cost of 0.8 yuan.ConclusionThe hygienic effect of surgical hand disinfection is not affected by the use of paper hand towels before applying hand sanitizer, while the operating cost of hospital operating room can be significantly reduced by using paper hand towels instead of sterilized hand towels.