What is hand hygiene?
Hand hygiene is a general term for hand washing, sanitary disinfection, and surgical disinfection by medical personnel during their professional activities. Hand hygiene is now recognized as one of the simplest, effective, convenient, and economical measures to prevent and control hospital-acquired infections. Hand hygiene, as one of the key measures of standard prophylaxis, plays an important role in preventing and controlling hospital-acquired infections, controlling the spread of drug-resistant bacteria and outbreaks of hospital-acquired infections. Through hand hygiene, we can effectively reduce the incidence of hospital-acquired infections and ensure patient safety. Different levels of hand hygiene can be performed depending on the risk of infection. The higher the level of hand hygiene the more effective it is in removing both transient and resident bacteria from the hands.
Types of hand hygiene
1. Hand washing: medical personnel wash their hands with soap or soap solution and running water to remove dirt, debris, and some pathogenic bacteria from hands.
2. Hygienic hand sanitizing: it refers to the process in which medical personnel rub their hands with quick-drying hand sanitizers to reduce transient bacteria on the hands.
3. Surgical hand disinfection: for this type, medical personnel washing their hands with soap (liquid) or antibacterial soap (liquid) and running water before surgery and then using hand sanitizers to remove or kill the temporary resident bacteria and resident bacteria on the hands.
Five moments for hand hygiene
WHO recommends “five moments” for hand hygiene. Please remember “two before, three after, and five steps”:
① “Before": before contacting patients;
② “Before”: before cleaning / aseptic operation;
③ “After”: after contact with the patient's body fluids, blood, and secretions;
④ “After”: after contact with the patient;
⑤ “After”: after contact with the patient's surroundings
How to do hand hygiene
The steps are as follows:
First, wet your hands with running water and apply hand sanitizer or soap.
Step 1: Palms facing each other and fingers together rubbing each other.
Step 2: Palms to backs of hands, rubbing each other along the fingers and swapping.
Step 3: Palms facing each other, cross your fingers and rub them together.
Step 4: Bend the fingers so that the joints are placed on the other palm and rotate and rub.
Step 5: Hold one hand and rub the thumb of the other hand, and exchange.
Step 6: Place your fingertips together in the palm of the other hand and rub them in a rotating way.
Step 7: Hold the wrist of one hand on the other and rub, then exchange.
WARNING: Wash your hands by rubbing them carefully for at least 15 seconds. Care should be taken to wash all the area on both hands, including the back of the fingers, the tips and the cracks of the fingers. Finally, rinse the hands thoroughly under running water!
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