Handwashing Essay

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State Technical College-Fundamentals of Nursing

Healthcare Handwashing

A Brief Overview

Howard Lewis
9-18-2017

Handwashing with soap and water has been an integral part of religious and cultural habits for centuries. The correlation between handwashing and the spread of disease was established in the 1800s. Handwashing is successful in preventing the spread of infection and this theory was proven by Ignaz Semmelweis in a maternity ward in Austria in 1847. Despite solid evidence, his theory was met with great opposition. He found that handwashing greatly reduced the incidence and spread of Child Bed Fever aka Perpetual Fever. He noticed that after medical students had been in the autopsy suites their hands would still smell strongly after …show more content…

In addition, healthcare workers’ handwashing technique differs from the one you use at home. It is “important that all surfaces of the hands are cleaned thoroughly to dislodge and wash away pathogens” (Burton & Ludwig, 2015, pg. 261). The spread of pathogens in a healthcare setting happens with high likelihood. Therefore, it is imperative to wash one’s hands in the following situations. First, upon entering the patient’s room, secondly, anytime your hands are visibly dirty, third, between caring for two patients in the same room, forth, immediately after removing your gloves, and finally after touching body fluids, secretions, excretions, or contaminated …show more content…

These guidelines state that when hand washing with soap and water is not a good option then the use of alcohol-based hand sanitizing gels can be used. These should be applied correctly before and after each patient to cover all surfaces of the hands and fingers. If the hands have particular matter on them, they should be washed with water and soap before applying these gels. The guidelines also state that using handwashing or hand sanitizing gels does not replace the use of gloves. In addition, one should keep nails trimmed short and not wear artificial nails in a healthcare setting for optimal hand hygiene (Burton & Ludwig, 2015, pgs.

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