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Why Hand Hygiene is So Important

Why Hand Hygiene is So Important

(ARA) – When your kids come back to the dinner table from the bathroom, what is the first thing you always ask them? “Did you wash your hands?” If the answer is “no” you, of course, send them back to do it.

So why is it that many parents, and non parents for that matter, don’t always take the time to practice what they preach? Among the most common answers are “I forgot,” “I didn’t feel like it,” and “I don’t know.”

Well, just take a moment to think about the ramifications of your actions, or lack thereof. Throughout the day you accumulate germs on your hands from a variety of sources, such as direct contact with people, contaminated surfaces, foods, even animals and animal waste. Despite the proven health benefits of hand washing, many people don’t practice this habit as often as they should — even after using the toilet.

* The dangers of not washing your hands

According to MayoClinic.com, if you don’t wash your hands frequently enough, you can infect yourself with germs by touching your eyes, nose or mouth. And you can spread these germs to others by touching them or by touching surfaces that they also touch, such as computer keyboards, telephones and doorknobs.

Think there are a lot of germs at home, school and work? It’s nothing when compared to what you’ll find at a doctor’s office or in a hospital setting — places where sick people congregate. Everything is a potential source of germs, including doorknobs, chair arms, bathrooms and even the pen and check-in register.

*The healthcare community is fighting back by educating the public and patients about preventing infection.

Healthcare workers are doing more today than ever before to combat infection. With heightened awareness and concern over MRSA and other drug-resistant super bugs, hospitals are applying the latest technology to prevent the spread of infection. Hospitals are installing wall-mounted dispensers throughout the hospital and outside of patient rooms to make hand hygiene convenient. They are reviewing their hand hygiene procedures and implementing training programs to prevent deadly viruses. Visitors, patients and family members are encouraged to use the hand hygiene products just as nurses, doctors and other personnel do.

If your health care professional doesn’t wash their hands in front of you, make a point of asking them if they would. And don’t be surprised if instead of turning on the faucet, they put their hands under a dispenser for an alcohol-based antiseptic rub.

Some of the more popular products showing up in doctor’s offices, hospitals, nursing homes and hospital operating rooms these days are Sterillium Rub and Sterillium Comfort Gel by Medline Industries. These brushless, waterless alcohol rub products contain ethanol and a well balanced blend of emollients that the user rubs into the skin to ward off germs. Health care professionals say they prefer using rubs like this one to simply washing with soap and water because they are faster to use, more accessible because no sinks are required, more gentle on the hands and because they leave hands soft and smooth, rather than chaffed and dry.  In fact, alcohol rub products are preferred to soap and water because they also provide better protection against germs.

In the wintertime, dry, itchy, irritated skin is a big problem not just for healthcare professionals, but for just about everyone. When it’s not enough to just clean the skin, you can moisturize, protect and nourish it with the help of Remedy advanced skin care products, also by Medline Industries.

All Remedy products contain Olivamine, a proprietary blend of amino acids, antioxidants vitamins and methylsulfonylmethane (MSM). This patent pending blend represents a well-balanced meal for skin cells. The Remedy products also deliver natural oils to help bind the water and maintain the barrier properties of the skin. Keeping the skin in good shape is necessary to avoid excessive loss of moisture, which leads to cracked, itchy and painful hands.

The Remedy line includes cleansers, moisturizers and skin protectants that help deliver vital nutrients to the skin in an all natural way. Consumers can purchase the products in the first aid aisles of CVS stores.

Hand washing, or using alcohol-based hand disinfectants like Sterillium, doesn’t take much time or effort, but it offers great rewards in terms of preventing illness. Adopting this simple habit can play a major role in protecting your health. To learn more about the benefits of proper hand care, log on to www.medline.com.

Courtesy of ARAcontent

Hand Hygiene

Wash Your Hands!

Hand hygiene is a term used to cover both hand washing using soap and water, and cleaning hands with waterless or alcohol-based hand sanitizers.

Why Hand Hygiene is Important and When to Wash Your Hands
Five common ways germs are spread:

• Nose, mouth, or eyes to hands to others:
  Germs can spread to the hands by sneezing, coughing, or rubbing the eyes and then can be transferred to other family members or friends. Simply washing your hands can help prevent such illnesses as the common cold or eye infections.
• Hands to food:
  Usually germs are transmitted from unclean hands to food by an infected food preparer who didn’t wash his or her hands after using the toilet. The germs are then passed to those who eat the food. This is easily prevented by always washing your hands after using the toilet and before preparing food items.
• Food to hands to food:
  Germs are transmitted from raw foods, such as chicken, to hands while preparing a meal. The germs on the hands are then transferred to other uncooked foods, such as salad. Cooking the raw food kills the initial germs, but the salad remains contaminated.
• Infected child to hands to other children:
  Germs are passed from a child with diarrhea to the hands of the parent during diaper changing. If the parent doesn’t immediately wash his or her hands, the germs that cause diarrhea are then passed to others.
• Animals to people:
  Wash your hands after petting animals or touching any surfaces they come into contact with.

Washing Hands with Soap and Water

The three components needed are :

1. Soap
2. Warm water
3. Friction

Technique:

• Six steps:
  1.   Wet hands with warm, running water.
  2.   Add soap.
  3.   Rub hands vigorously for 20 seconds.
     1.   Backs of hands
     2.   Wrists
     3.   Between fingers
     4.   Tips of fingers
     5.   Thumbs under fingernails—nailbrush is best
     •   Backs of hands
     •   Wrists
     •   Between fingers
     •   Tips of fingers
     •   Thumbs under fingernails—nailbrush is best

  Wash all surfaces including:

  4.   Rinse.
     •   Keep fingers pointing down
  5.   Dry vigorously with paper or clean cloth towel.
  6.   Turn off faucet with towel and open door with towel.

How it works:

• The soap suspends the dirt and soils.
• The friction motion helps pull dirt and greasy or oily soils free from the skin.
• Warm running water washes away suspended dirt and soils that trap germs.
• Final friction of wiping hands removes more germs.

Cleaning Hands with Hand Sanitizer

The two components needed for waterless cleaning are:

1. Waterless hand sanitizer
2. Friction

Technique:

Four steps:

• Make sure all organic matter is removed from hands.
  All visible organic matter (for example: dirt) must be removed from hands prior to applying waterless hand sanitizer.
• Apply a dime sized amount of waterless hand sanitizer to the palm of one hand or use a waterless hand sanitizer wipe.
• Rub hands together covering all surfaces of hands and fingers.
• Rub until waterless hand sanitizer is absorbed.

How it works:

Waterless hand sanitizer provides several advantages over hand washing with soap and water. However, they are not effective if organic matter (dirt, food, or other material) is visible on hands.

Benefits of waterless hand sanitizer:

• require less time than hand washing
• act quickly to kill microorganisms on hands
• are more accessible than sinks
• reduce bacterial counts on hands
• do not promote antimicrobial resistance
• are less irritating to skin than soap and water
• some can even improve condition of skin

The number one and most important thing anyone can do is

WASH YOUR HANDS WELL!

Copyright © 2008 MRSA Diagnosis

By using this site you agree to and understand the following: Information contained within this site is intended solely for general educational purposes and is not intended nor implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice relative to your specific medical condition or question. Always seek the advice of your physician or other health provider for any questions you may have regarding your medical condition. Only your physician can provide specific diagnoses and therapies.