Hand washing is the most effective way to prevent the spread of communicable diseases. Health care-associated infections are infections patients acquire during care in a health care facility. At least 50% of health care-associated infections could be prevented through validated prevention strategies like hand washing. Proper hand washing technique involves wetting hands with warm water, applying soap and rubbing hands together for 20 seconds to create lather, rinsing with warm water, and drying thoroughly with a clean towel. Hand washing should be done before and after various activities to avoid spreading germs.

1. HAND
WASHING
MUKESH SUNDARARAJAN

2. Definition
• Health Care-associated Infection (HCAI)
• Also referred to as “nosocomial”
or “hospital” infection
• “An infection occurring in a patient
during the process of care in a hospital
or other health-care facility which was
not present or incubating at the time of
admission. This includes infections
acquired in the health-care facility but
appearing after discharge, and also
occupational infections among health-
care workers of the facility”

3. Prevention of
health care-associated infection
–Validated and standardized prevention
strategies have been shown to reduce HCAI
–At least 50% of HCAI could be prevented
–Most solutions are simple and not resource-
demanding and can be implemented in
developed, as well as in transitional and
developing countries

4. WHY WASH
YOUR HANDS ?
• Hand washing is the single most
effective way to prevent the spread of
communicable diseases.

5. Hand transmission
– Hands are the most
common vehicle to
transmit health care-
associated pathogens
– Transmission of
health care-associated
pathogens from one
patient to another via
health-care workers’
hands requires
5 sequential steps

6. The “My 5 Moments for Hand
Hygiene” approach

7. Why should you clean your
hands?
–Any health-care worker, caregiver or person
involved in patient care needs to be
concerned about hand hygiene
–Therefore hand hygiene concerns you!
–You must perform hand hygiene to:
– protect the patient against harmful germs carried
on your hands or present on his/her own skin
– protect yourself and the health-care environment
from harmful germs

8. Hand Washing
can prevent
• Good hand washing can
prevent diseases such as:
Shigellosis, E. Coli,
Streptococcal Disease,
Influenza and the Common
Cold

9. How to clean your hands
– Handrubbing with alcohol-based handrub is the
preferred routine method of hand hygiene if
hands
are not visibly soiled
– Handwashing with soap and water – essential
when
when hands are visibly dirty or visibly soiled
(following visible exposure to body fluids)1
1 If exposure to spore forming organisms e.g. Clostridium difficile is strongly suspected
or proven, including during outbreaks – clean hands using soap and water

10. How to
Hand rub
• Toeffectively reduce
the growth of germs
on
• hands, handrubbing
must be performed by
following all of the
illustrated steps.
• This takes only 20–
30 seconds!

11. How to
hand wash
• Toeffectively reduce
the growth of germs on
hands, handwashing
must last 40–60
secs
• and should be
performed by
following all of the
illustrated steps

12. Alcohol Hand
Rubs
• Require less time
• Can be strategically placed
• Readily accessible
• Multiple sites
• All patient care areas

13. Alcohol
Hand Rubs
• Acts faster
• Excellent
bactericidal activity
• Less irritating (??)
• Sustained improvement

14. Time constraint =
major obstacle for
hand hygiene
• Adequate hand washing
with water and soap
requires 40–60 seconds
• Averagetime usually
adopted by health- care
workers:
• <10 seconds
• Alcohol-based
• hand rubbing: 20–30
seconds

15. WHEN SHOULD YOU WASH YOUR HANDS
?
BEFORE YOU:
Prepare or eat food
Treat a cut or wound
Tend to someone who’s sick
Put in or take out contact lenses
Do any kind of activity that involves putting your
fingers in or near your mouth, eyes, etc

16. WHEN SHOULD YOU WASH YOUR HANDS
?
AFTER YOU:
Go to the bathroom
Handle uncooked foods, especially raw meat
Eat
Blow your nose, cough or sneeze
Handle garbage
Tend to someone who is sick
Change a diaper
Play with or touch a pet

17. CORRECT HANDWASHING
TECHNIQUE
• Wet hands with warm running water.
• Add soap, then rub hands together to make a
soapy lather. Make sure to wash the front and
back of your hands, nails and nail beds, wrists
and between fingers.
• Wash hands for 20 seconds.
• Rinse hands with warm running
water with your hands pointed
down.
• Dry hands thoroughly with a clean towel and
use that towel to turn off the water and open
the door.

18. THANK YOU