Handwashing Essay

Hand hygiene remains the single most effective way to prevent hospital acquired infection, avoid getting ill and avoid the spread of illnesses (McCreery, 2010). There are various ways to wash and sanitize our hands these days, but hand washing with regular soap and water still remains the most common and most trusted form of hand hygiene (Hall, 2007). The debate that tends to rise with hand washing, is the question, of regular soap or antibacterial soap. According to the researchers from the University Of Michigan School Of Public Health plain soap is just as good, if not better then the advertised antibacterial in reducing bacterial related illnesses. In fact, antibacterial soaps can increase bacterial resistance to antibiotics in some bacteria’s can pose problems (Hall, 2007). For effective hand washing certain steps should be followed to properly wash hands. First, a person must remove rings and jewelry on their fingers and wrist. Secondly, turn water on and adjust to a warm temp. Then, lather hands in soap and rub hands together causing friction, for at least 15 seconds. Then, rinse hands well under the warm water. Lastly, dry hands off with a paper towel, and turn off water faucet with a clean paper towel to avoid contaminating hands. To ensure proper hand hygiene these steps must be followed each time hands are washed with soap and water. Infection control is an essential part of providing good health care to patients. Handwashing should be done frequently throughout the day to keep hands clean. It should always be done before coming in contact with a patient, and after leaving a patients room, after using the bath room, after any type of wound care and after nose blowing or covering cough with hands. These are just a few common times when hand washing with soap and water is essential. Health care workers must always realize that hand washing, is extremely important in order to decrease the number of infections that tend to circulate