Purpose: The purpose of this study was to assess rates for handwashing adherence before and after nursing contact in intensive care units (ICU). Methods: The participants included 90 nurses working in intensive care units of an 800-bed university-affiliated hospital in Gyeonggi Province and 2000-bed university-affiliated hospital in Seoul. Time for handwashing was calculated using the average number of handwashings during an 8-hour day shift. Nursing contact was based on indications as defined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC, 2002). Data were analyzed using frequency, percent, t-test and ${chi}^2$-test. Results: During an 8-hour day shift, the average number of times that hands were washed was 25.0. The rates were significantly lower before the nursing contact than after the nursing contact when it involved sectioning, observation or contact with a wound, cleaning enteric feeding bag, physical exam, use of gloves, or contact with contaminants. Conclusions: The results indicate that as handwashing rates were significantly lower before nursing contacts than after nursing contacts, there is need to develop strategies to address this deficiency in handwashing.