Handwashing Technique

870 Words2 Pages

Assessment
Keeping our hands clean is a significant precaution everyone should take to avoid spreading germs and to prevent illness. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention article, Handwashing: Clean Hands Save Lives, (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention , 2013) it states, “Handwashing is like a "do-it-yourself" vaccine.” Nurses are in a perfect position to teach handwashing to anyone; including patients, family, and friends. Improper hand hygiene is responsible for the spread of germs and sickness as well. It is never too late to learn and develop good habits to ensure prevention of illness. Because of this the teaching subject of this paper was an individual with a dehisced abdominal wound. He was responsible for changing the wet and dry dressings on his wound after discontinuation of a negative pressure wound therapy device. The subject is a 22 year old Caucasian male from a middle-class American family, in which he has a strong relationship with. He falls within Erikson’s growth and developmental stage of Intimacy versus Isolation. The young man is involved in a romantic relationship and is a bit self conscious of his incision and the scar that will remain. He is concerned about proper healing of the wound and prevention of infection. The subject shows interest in learning proper techniques and prevention measures to ensure against this possibility. The composer of this paper hopes to teach by demonstrating the proper approach to aid him in his current circumstance, as well as the importance of the subject at hand and have him mirror the technique. To assess the need for learning, he was asked several questions about his hand washing practices. This individual had a basic understanding that...

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...rn the water off should definitely be addressed, although this client caught on to what was included in the video provided. In conclusion, all teaching goals were met and this young man felt that he learned valuable, pertinent information to aid him in prevention of infection and he demonstrated techniques that would suggest this as well.

Works Cited

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2013, December 16). Handwashing: Clean hands save lives. Retrieved from http://www.cdc.gov/handwashing/
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2013, December 11). Handwashing: Clean hands save lives, how should you wash your hands?. Retrieved from http://www.cdc.gov/handwashing/when-how-handwashing.html
National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases (NCEZID) (2008). Put your hands together [Web]. Retrieved from http://www.cdc.gov/cdctv/handstogether/

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