Objective To investigate the effect of different hand hygiene(HH) methods and hand drying measures on HH, and improve the quality of HH. Methods Health care workers(HCWs) in different departments of eight hospitals in Henan Province were selected as the surveyed subjects. HH methods and hand drying measures were observed, qualified rates of microbial detection of HH among different HH methods and hand drying measures were compared. Results A total of 699 HCWs were surveyed, 572 times of HH were performed, compliance rate of HH was 81.83%. Hand washing is the most common HH measure, accounting for 39.34%. The qualified rate of HH by alcohol-based hand rub was 97.92%, qualified rate of HH among different HH methods was statistically significant (χ²=20.203,P<0.001). The main HH measures was natural air drying (79.37%), proportion of drying by disposable tissue, automatic air dryer and other methods were 14.69%, 1.75% and 4.20% respectively. There was significant difference in qualified rates of HH after different hand drying measures (P=0.013). In hand washing group and hand disinfection after hand washing group, the qualified rate of using disposable tissue to dry hands was the highest, accounting for 80.70% and 96.30% respectively. Conclusion Application of alcohol-based hand rub is reliable for hand disinfection, the best way of hand drying is to use disposable tissue.