Surgical hand disinfection should follow the principle of "wash hands first, then disinfect", so the process can be divided into two steps: hand washing and hand disinfection.

For the first step "hand washing", there is no requirement to wash twice.

For the second step "hand disinfection", two methods are introduced:
① rinse hand disinfection method, that is, take the hand disinfectant coated and rubbed, rinse with running water and dry, when the running water quality does not meet the requirements of GB5749-2006 "drinking water hygiene standards", the surgeon in the gloves before the application of alcohol hand disinfectant and then disinfect the hands after wearing gloves.
② non-rinse hand disinfection methods, the use of non-rinse hand disinfectant coated and rubbed until the disinfectant is dry.

The reason why there is confusion about whether surgical hand disinfection is a one-time or two-time hand washing is that the second step of the "rinse method of hand disinfection" may be mistaken for a second "hand washing". The second step may be mistaken for a second "handwashing" in the second step, "rinsing". In fact, however, the purpose of this step is disinfection, not cleansing, and it is not "hand washing".

Therefore, normally, no matter which method of hand disinfection is used, it is only necessary to wash the hands once beforehand. However, if hygiene is poor and there is a lot of skin dirt, washing twice is recommended.