Chances are, you don't wash your hands as often or as well as you should! In health care, hand washing is so vital, an entire nursing practicum class was dedicated to the washing of our hands. After coating our hands in a substance called, "Germ Juice" we were instructed to perform hand washing as we normally would in every day situations. The next step was to place our hands under a black light and see how much of the substance was left over. Even though I scrubbed vigorously, my hands looked disgusting under the black light! This was an interesting lesson learned, and ever since I have been more conscious of my hand washing. Considering all of my blogs so far have been based on the prevention of illness, I figured this topic was one that could not be skipped. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention did a study on hand washing and found that:
- the human influenza virus can survive on surfaces for a surprising two to eight hours
- A staggering one out of three Americans skips hand washing after going to the bathroom.
-Only 30% of people who have coughed or sneezed into their hands wash their hands afterward.
-In a survey of junior high and high school boys and girls, only 58% of girls and 48% of boys wash up after using the restroom (CDCP, 2007).
Protect your own health, and the health of those around you. Lather up!
(2007). Hand washing Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention.Retrieved on December 1, 2008 from http://www.cdc.gov/
2 comments:
i wash my hands alot,
BUT when i cant , purell works pretty well
apparently if you use it multiple times without washing your hands in between, it is really bad for your skin,
do you know anything about that... :)
Well, of course I do. In my research, I found that purell is a great replacement for soap and water. So long as your hands aren't visibly soiled. If they are, you're going to need to find a sink.
But, to answer your skin concerns... I think that so long as you find a hand sanitizer with some kind of moisturizing ingredient, you should be okay :). There is a lot of alcohol found in hand sanitizers, which can sometimes dry out your hands.
Hope that helped !
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