Bar Soap Vs Antiseptics

Thoroughly washing your hands can be one of the best ways to prevent the spread of pathogens that cause illnesses. Our bodies have several lines of defense to fight infections. It is very important to do what we can do to avoid the pathogens from entering our system in the first place. Our hands pick up microscopic pathogens from objects that were touched by people who may not have washed their hands very well. When we forget to wash our hands or don’t wash them properly, we can spread pathogens from our hands to our internal systems by touching other parts of our body. During this lab activity, my partner and I will test the effectiveness of different hand-washing times, techniques, and

This experiment illustrates the importance of handwashing and proves that hand washing is worth it. Since our hands are constantly coming into contact with ourselves and others, touching surfaces, grabbing objects, being sneezed into, etc., keeping our hands clean is one of the most effective, yet simple way we can take to avoid getting sick and spreading germs to others. Many diseases and conditions are spread by not washing hands with soap and clean, running warm water. “The human skin is a host to anywhere between 10,000-10,000,000 bacteria per square centimeter and since health care providers come into contact with pathogenic bacteria by being engaged in patient care, hand washing can reduce the risk of spreading diseases (page 3).” The objective of the experiment is to test the effectiveness of hand washing and demonstrate normal flora. This report presents the procedures and materials for the experiment, the experiment's results, and an analysis of those results.

Things that are used commonly by students and staff should be routinely disinfected to ensure the health and safety of the people using the provided materials. Bacteria is related to disease (American Association for the Advancement of Science, 1885) Previous studies on the surface of a high school telephone showed that the phones had an uncountable number of bacteria colonies (Yalowitz, 2003). We know that surfaces used by the public often become contaminated because of the bacteria on peoples hands. A study on the bacteria on peoples hands showed that 28% of people have fecal matter on their hands (Judah, 2010). A study done on the contamination on public doorknobs showed that over 86.7% were contaminated (Nworie, 2012). This experiment was to show us how much bacteria is on the surface of the things we use

Generations of people have considered handwashing a measure of personal hygiene. In 1847, Dr. Semmelweis insisted that healthcare providers wash their hands with disinfecting agents between patients. This early hand hygiene practice resulted in a decrease in mortality rates among hospital patients (CDC, 2002). The CDC’s Healthcare Infection Control Practices Advisory Committee published the Guideline for Hand Hygiene in Health-Care Settings in 2002 that is based on hand hygiene foundations developed in generation past. In 2014, this guideline is still available online and used as a reference

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the impact of hand hygiene and how it decreases the transmission of infection throughout (Bloomfield, Aiello, Cookson, O'Boyle, & Larson, 2007). Handwashing can include alcohol based hygiene items and handwashing with soap and water. This study main focus was on North American and Europe. There is plenty of supporting rationale to backup why this study was conducted. Some of the few things this study wanted to achieve are hand hygiene is key to staying healthy and reducing infection. This needs to be followed both in the workplace and around the community to abstain from infections. Handwashing can be achieved by soap and water or hand sanitizers that removes or eliminates many microorganisms on the surface of the hand (de Oliveira Dourado, da Costa Barros, Diogo de Vasconcelos, & da Silva Santos, 2017). This can impact many individuals by using this technique to keep foreign germs off of the hands. The importance of washing hands

Over the years one of the leading causes of hospital acquired infection has been attributed to the poor hand hygiene. Whether it is due to the fact that healthcare workers are not sanitizing their hands between patients that can lead to cross contamination between patients, between staff and patients, or even staff to staff. Since a majority of hospital associated infections such Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) or Vancomycin-resistant Enterococci (VRE) as are transmitted via contact and can remain on surfaces for up to thirty of more days it is very easy to transmit between patients with ineffective hand hygiene. There should be accessibility to both hand sanitizers as well as handwashing areas which would make it easy for staff, patients, and visitors to follow hand washing protocols. Studies done over the past on health care workers in reference to proper hand hygiene has shown that there is still an at least a fifty percent times in which proper hand hygiene is not performed (Ara, et al., 2016). On a daily basis a health care worker comes into contact of different microbes which are easily transmitted and according to the CDC not following the proper hand hygiene along with adequate solvent is reportedly the number one factor that contributes to HAI’s (CDC, 2015). Healthcare facilities are currently making handwashing more accessible by providing alcohol based hand sanitizers outside of patient’s rooms which are more visible to visitors and staff. Studies have shown several factors that contribute to the lack of proper hand hygiene, knowledge of the spread of infection via contact with contaminated hands, the importance of having solvents such as hand sanitizers being accessible and antibacterial soap, the understanding of the proper method involved in hand washing, understaffing is also a

Hand hygiene has been an issue that needed enhancement. In the United States (US), 1in every 25 patients admitted in the hospital turn out to be infected, making it a total of 722,000 infections each year (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 2016). These infections can be critical and very unsusceptible to treatment. Proper hand hygiene can be used to inhibit the transmission of disease-causing agents. Healthcare workers (HCWs) should exercise proper hand hygiene to inhibit the circulation of germs to patients. Hand hygiene should be done prior to patient contact, following contact with blood, body fluids, or non-sanitized surfaces, prior to invasive procedures, following taking off gloves and patient 's contacts. In

The number of health-care associated infections and patient safety must be addressed and improved by actions and plans that can be implemented as soon as possible. Estimates indicate that hundreds of millions of patients contract these infections worldwide on a yearly basis. This article outlines the need for hand hygiene in order to prevent and control healthcare-associated infections (also referred to as HCAI’s). It states that a large number of HCAI’s are preventable, and measures regarding strict observance of hand hygiene methods must be taken. In October 2004, from all corners of the globe, patient groups, governmental agencies and policy-makers held a meeting advance the patient safety goal of "first, do no harm” and to essentially promote

There is a serious concern today about healthcare associated infection due to limited or lack hand hygiene. The concern has brought burden to patients, which many times result into additional complication posing a threat to the patient’s wellness process. In some cases, these acquired infection(s) will lead to long hospitalization or rehabilitation stay or re-hospitalization with huge healthcare cost left for patients to pay. One main cause of these infections are as a result of healthcare worker not performing proper hand hygiene before and after care and also in between patients. The healthcare associated infection spread is by direct contact from one healthcare worker’s hands to the patients and from patients to patients. Hand hygiene can be defined as is a “preventive practice to stop the spread of disease. These practices include basic handwashing, using antisepsis to kill germs on hands, and protecting the skin” (Hand hygiene, 2016). To meet to standards of hand hygiene the agents used during this process are: plain soap and water, antimicrobial soap and water and alcohol-base hand sanitizer. With the use of these agents to prevent the spread of infection, proper handwashing technique is considered the optimum practice for clean hands. I chose “Hand

As a recognized issue in the mid-1800s hand washing was observed to mean the difference in saving many mothers’ lives to whom just gave birth. In Europe, “childbed fever” left and average of one in four children without a mother due to the spread infection across sectors in medical centres (Western University 19). Observed in Vienna, Austria, Dr. Sammeweis ordered medical practitioners to wash their hands before assisting in labour. As a result, the mortality rate dropped to under one percent (Western University 20). Since then, the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention has named hand washing, “the single most important means of preventing the spread of infection” (Western University 20).

Practicing hand hygiene is simple and most effective measures for preventing or controlling the cross- transmission of microorganism. Hand hygiene whether by washing hands with soap and water or use of the alcohol- based hand rubs are very crucial to prevent infection (Pittet et al., 2004). Alcohol- based hand rubs should be available at the every entrance of organization

The Royal College of Nursing lists hand hygiene as one of its ‘Standard infection control precautions.’ These essential principles provide the foundation of safe practice, thus protecting staff and clients from harmful micro-organisms that may cause infection. (2012, p. 8) HCAI’s (healthcare associated infections) are one of the most important public health issues worldwide and cause hundreds of unnecessary fatalities annually. The prevalence of these infections is highest an

patients get a hospital-related infection every year and 99,000 die from their infection. According to The Joint Commission (2017), "Hand hygiene is critically important to safe, high quality patient care". (The Joint Commission, 2017) We should be mindful of our patients as well as ourselves, because we are also at risk of getting infections. However, this can all be minimized if health care workers follow appropriate hand hygiene practices and understand when alcohol-based hand sanitizer is effective for improving patient safety.

Curtis et al (2001) noted that modern methods of promoting handwashing can be effective and cost-effective on a large scale. Studies suggest that soap is widely available, even in poor households in developing countries, although it is mostly used for bathing and washing clothes (Borghi et al, 2002). In rural India and Bangladesh, soap is often considered a beautifying agent or for the physical feeling of cleanliness which it gives, rather than being associated with the removal of microorganisms or health benefits (Hoque and Briend, 1991; Hoque et al, 1995).

This assignment will encompass how the results of the personal hygiene and susceptibility microbiology experiments provide a framework for the basis of the NICE Clinical Guidance (CG139) on Infection and how crucial the reasons for the hand wash protocol and hygiene is in all healthcare settings.