Hand Hygiene - Make it a HabitIt's Day # 3 of International Infection Prevention Week and my topic for today is hand hygiene. Now before you start in with, "Yeah, yeah, yeah, . .. I will do that.....later..." , let me plead my case: Infections claim more lives than any other diseases except cancer and heart disease. And some infections can lead to cancer (like liver cancer following chronic hepatitis) and some infections can cause heart disease (like rheumatic heart disease following Streptococcal infection). They say that Americans spend more than $20 billion annually to fight infections -with all the diagnostic tests, treatments, antibiotics and hospitalization. There are so many infections to get - common cold, influenza, pneumonia, diarrhea, vomiting, foodborne infections, sexually-transmitted infections, hepatitis, urinary tract infections, skin infections - and many, many more. Rather than spending our money on treatment and control of infections - I say, "Don't even go there!" Avoid the pain and discomfort, the pus, the loss of productivity, and all the other expenses related to infections - prevent them! The single most effective method of preventing and controlling infection is simple HAND HYGIENE. We used to say, "handwashing" but now that we have proven effectiveness with alcohol-based hand sanitizers, we refer to either or both techniques as "hand hygiene".
Your hands are collecting nanobugs all day because you are constantly interacting with your environment and your own body. So when should you wash or apply sanitizers? Here's the short list: before you handle or eat food, after you use the toilet or restroom, after you change a diaper, after you handle a pet, after you take out the garbage, after you handle money, after you blow your nose, sneeze or cough into your hands, after you handle uncooked food (especially meat, poultry and eggs), before entering a hospital room or leaving it and of course, when your hands are visibly dirty from gardening, fishing, or working on the car. Here's the simple technique for Handwashing: Apply soap to the hands - liquid or bar - and rub vigorously for 20 seconds (the time it takes to sing the "Happy Birthday" tune in your head) and then rinse under warm (not HOT) running water until all the soap and the nanobugs are gone - down the drain. Dry your hands well with a clean towel or a paper towel. In a public restroom, leave the water running and use the paper towel to turn off the faucets so you don't recontamination of your clean hands. If your hands are not visibly soiled, an alcohol-based hand sanitizer will work fast and effectively to get rid of the nanobugs. Apply a dime-sized or nickel-sized amount of the sanitizer and rub your hands vigorously until they are dry.
This entry was posted on October 17th, 2007 at 6:30 am. RSS
 | Back to Blog Homepage.
Write a comment
|
nanobugs, Inc |
 |
