The history of hand washing shows people that there are important steps to follow to properly wash their hands. So who started this amazing practice?
Back in 1847 a doctor by the name of Ignaz Semmelweis, brought up a crazy idea, hand washing. It was Dr. Semmelweis who first demonstrated that routine hand washing could prevent the spread of disease. He worked in a maternity ward in Austria. Their patients were dying at a very fast pace. Most of those dying had been treated by student physicians who worked on cadavers (dead bodies) during an anatomy class before beginning their rounds in the maternity ward. The students were not in the practice of washing their hands. So between touching the dead bodies and the patients, bacteria from the dead transmitted to the mothers from the students' unwashed hands. The result was a death rate five times higher for mothers who delivered in the hospital than for mothers who delivered at home. At the time this doctor was looked at as if he was crazy. He was fired from his position at the hospital and was admitted to an insane asylum. He died there 14 days later from being beaten by the guards for his crazy beliefs.
Healthcare specialists would agree in saying hand washing is the single most effective way to prevent the transmission of disease. Good hygiene in general, sterilization and disinfection in particular, are standards that began in hospitals but have become used every where else. Of the many ways that you can help your patients, washing your hands is the most important. Frequent hand washing breaks the cycle and prevents spread of disease.
Germs that are present on our hands can cause illnesses such as diarrhea, colds and other more serious diseases that could potentially lead to death.
In the practice of medicine there are different clinical skills that you have to perform to pass tests. Hand washing is one of them. On every test hand washing will always be something that is observed, and if you fail to wash your hands at any point in your process you will fail. I am going to give detailed instructions to washing your hands properly.
First turn on the water at the sink. Then you will want to wet your hands and wrists thoroughly. Now you need to apply skin cleaner or soap to your hands. You will need to lather (make soapy bubbles) on all surfaces of your hands, wrists, and fingers. The goal is to produce friction for at least 15 seconds. I was taught to sing the Happy Birthday song twice. Next it's time to clean your fingernails. You do this by rubbing your fingertips against your palm of the opposite hand. Now it is time to rinse all the surfaces of your wrists, hands, and fingers. While rinsing remember to keep your hands lower than your elbows and your fingertips pointing down to prevent the water from coming up your arms. Use a clean, dry paper towel to dry all surfaces of your hands, wrists, and fingers. You then need to use another clean, dry paper towel to turn off the faucet. Make sure you dispose of the used paper towel(s) in wastebasket immediately after shutting off the faucet. You need to make sure that at no time do you touch the inside of sink or the faucet itself. If by chance you do touch something it is okay, but you will need to start the process over to ensure you have washed your hands properly.
So you might ask yourself is it really that important to wash your hands, simply put yes. Hand washing is the single most effective way to prevent the spread of infections. Whether you are working in a health care setting, day care setting or just at home you can spread certain germs casually by touching another person. You can also catch germs when you touch contaminated objects or surfaces and then you touch your face, mouth, eyes, or nose. We have patients to care for, and babies to tend to. Washing our hands does not need to be something neglected. The bottom line is to always make sure you wash your hands.
